Friday, November 22 2019 12:30

ArmInfo. In a parliamentary republic, the question of political parties is of particular  importance. This was announced on November 21 during discussions on  the draft law "On Parties".

So, according to the coordinator of the working group for the  development of the document, the deputy of the National Assembly from  the ruling faction "My Step" Amazasp Danielyan, as of today, the  draft law is 80-85% ready. The main thing, according to him, is a  consensus with all parliamentary factions. Moreover, in addition to  the law "On Parties", there is a need to amend the Electoral Code,  the Code of Administrative Offenses, the Criminal Code. According to  preliminary estimates, business and politics will be separated from  each other, and transparency and predictability in the activities of  parties should be increased which is necessary to increase public  confidence in these institutions, approaches to party financing are  also being reviewed, and the functions of control bodies are being  strengthened.  According to the deputy of the National Assembly from  the Enlightened Armenia faction Karen Simonyan, the package provides  for the settlement of issues related to the registration of parties  and the development of their internal democracy. Parties, according  to the deputy, should become an institutional body, for how strong  are parties, so is democracy. And in this context, the role of public  control over their activities is extremely important.  In turn, the  expert of the Anti-Corruption Center "Transparency International"  Khachik Harutyunyan believes that for the country that has chosen the  parliamentary form of government, the law "On Parties" should become  even higher than the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. In his  conviction, the majority of parties in Armenia rely solely on  individuals in their activities. According to the expert, it is  important to create equal starting conditions for party financing,  strengthen public control mechanisms, increase public confidence in  parties and exclude opportunities for their illegal financing,  especially external.  Earlier, lawyer Armen Mazmanyan at  parliamentary hearings on the law "On Parties" noted that in the near  future a bill on electoral system reform will be presented to the  public. According to him, one of the most important blocks of this  reform is the financing of political parties, the reduction of  corruption risks, as well as the separation of party activities and  business. In particular, it was decided to register the party with at  least 300 members against 800 at present. Moreover, the  representation of parties in the regions of the country should be at  least one quarter. Parties will now be banned from doing business.  The document provides for the provision of state assistance to  parties. In particular, the state guarantees the provision of offices  in the regions of the country to the political forces represented in  parliament. In addition, the government will increase the volume of  state financial assistance by 5-10 times for all parties without  exception. The provision regarding the suspension of their activities  in the event of non-participation in two or more general elections is  deleted from the current law. The activities of parties may be  suspended in exceptional cases. The executive body of each party will  be a Council of at least 5 members. Moreover, the prevalence in the  composition of the Council of one sex over the other should not  exceed 70%. Donations can be accepted exclusively by bank transfer.  In order to control the flow of financial resources during the  electoral processes, a special body is to be created.