Pashinyan says he has no plans to make changes in Electoral Code by his desired option and is ready for dialogue

Nikol Pashinyan, candidate for the Prime Minister of Armenia, assures that he will “never try to say” that the changes in the Electoral Code for holding snap parliamentary elections must be made by his desired option.

During the parliamentary debate of the election of the Prime Minister, in response to RPA faction MP Shushan Sardaryan’s question according to which how he is going to make changes in the Electoral Code by his desired option if there will not be the support of the parliamentary majority, Pashinyan said the Electoral Code is a document which must be broadly perceived by the public and political forces.

“Otherwise we will lose a very important thing: it would be impossible to have elections the results of which will be indisputable for both the political forces and the public”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

He expressed hope that everyone noticed that their rhetoric doesn’t contain hatred, they only talk about solidarity. “And I am happy that during the past six years I, as a Member of Parliament, having numerous contradictions with the representatives of parliamentary majority, had an experience of dialogue, solving issues with each other and at least in the international platforms we managed to express a common stance. The times when the government forces something to any layer of the parliamentary majority or minority, the public, have passed. When I am talking about any program, the most important for me is the purpose, and in this case the purpose is to hold fair and legal elections. I have my view, and it’s possible during the dialogue you propose an idea which will more effectively ensure that solution. We are going to solve these issues through a dialogue, discussions since I believe that we all understood that misrepresentation of election results leads all of us to crisis. This is the methodology of the work”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

Commenting on the MP’s question what are the constitutional ways to hold snap election as soon as possible, the PM candidate said there are several ways, and the selection of one of these versions depends on discussions. “One of the options is the following – the government is being formed, but the parliament doesn’t approve that government’s program, and in such circumstances the parliament is being dissolved, and snap parliamentary elections are being held. I don’t say this is the right option, but this is one of the mechanisms. The Constitution has quite restricted that opportunity, but we think that there is a chance to reach an agreement on this issue through discussions”, he said.

The PM candidate believes that it would be possible to come to an agreement by assessing the political situation.