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VOICES OF THE ARMENIAN OSCE DELEGATION
SwissInfo, Switzerland
Oct 27 2014
By Renat Kuenzi
Oct 27, 2014 - 15:29
Ashassi Yesayan, director of the independent centre for direct
democracy in Yerevan and initiator of the visit: "Our voting law does
not function because the government has too much power. In a report
to the government, I made suggestions for improvement." In addition
to directing the centre, Yesayan is an advisor to the Ministries of
Justice and Territorial Administration in Armenia.
Kristina Aghayan, a project manager at the OSCE, provides support
to the Armenian government and administration with implementing good
governance programmes. "I'm very happy that six officials from Armenia
could come to Switzerland and feel the pulse of Swiss democracy. Above
all, I am impressed that opinions of the citizens go from the bottom
up to the executives at top. This makes Switzerland almost an ideal."
Nune Hovhannisyan, a member of the seven-member central election
commission of the Republic of Armenia: "In my work I identify
weaknesses and make suggestions for improvement, most recently for
example regarding greater transparency in the financing of political
parties."
Liana Ghaltaghchyan, departmental head, Ministry of Justice: "When
we prepare legislative bills, we often do not know how we should
inform the citizens. As a result, they only learn about laws once
they are in force, instead of being brought into the process during
the drafting phase."
Arayyk Aghababyan, representative of the liberal conservative
"Prosperous Armenia" party in Parliament. "I find it good that the
cantons with two seats in the small chamber of the Swiss Parliament
(Senate) have equal weight. But as for the elections to the larger
chamber, the House of Representatives, I think it is not right that
one constituency comprises 10,000 electors, and another 100,000. This
means the chances of the candidates are not the same everywhere. I
believe all constituencies should be of equal size. I would therefore
propose that mechanisms similar to those that exist for compensation
among the cantons be implemented for the Switzerland's different-sized
constituencies."
Ashot Giloyan, department head, Ministry of Territorial Administration:
"My focus is on the implementation of the European Charter of Local
Self-Government of 2009, which Armenia also ratified.
Among others, we have initiated six pilot projects in which citizens
were allowed to vote via SMS. Voter turnout was low, however,
because the shift in consciousness necessary for more rights to
self-determination has not yet taken hold.
By Renat Kuenzi, swissinfo.ch Translated from German by Kathleen Peters
http://www.swissinfo.ch/directdemocracy/voices-of-the-armenian-osce-delegation/41082884
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
SwissInfo, Switzerland
Oct 27 2014
By Renat Kuenzi
Oct 27, 2014 - 15:29
Ashassi Yesayan, director of the independent centre for direct
democracy in Yerevan and initiator of the visit: "Our voting law does
not function because the government has too much power. In a report
to the government, I made suggestions for improvement." In addition
to directing the centre, Yesayan is an advisor to the Ministries of
Justice and Territorial Administration in Armenia.
Kristina Aghayan, a project manager at the OSCE, provides support
to the Armenian government and administration with implementing good
governance programmes. "I'm very happy that six officials from Armenia
could come to Switzerland and feel the pulse of Swiss democracy. Above
all, I am impressed that opinions of the citizens go from the bottom
up to the executives at top. This makes Switzerland almost an ideal."
Nune Hovhannisyan, a member of the seven-member central election
commission of the Republic of Armenia: "In my work I identify
weaknesses and make suggestions for improvement, most recently for
example regarding greater transparency in the financing of political
parties."
Liana Ghaltaghchyan, departmental head, Ministry of Justice: "When
we prepare legislative bills, we often do not know how we should
inform the citizens. As a result, they only learn about laws once
they are in force, instead of being brought into the process during
the drafting phase."
Arayyk Aghababyan, representative of the liberal conservative
"Prosperous Armenia" party in Parliament. "I find it good that the
cantons with two seats in the small chamber of the Swiss Parliament
(Senate) have equal weight. But as for the elections to the larger
chamber, the House of Representatives, I think it is not right that
one constituency comprises 10,000 electors, and another 100,000. This
means the chances of the candidates are not the same everywhere. I
believe all constituencies should be of equal size. I would therefore
propose that mechanisms similar to those that exist for compensation
among the cantons be implemented for the Switzerland's different-sized
constituencies."
Ashot Giloyan, department head, Ministry of Territorial Administration:
"My focus is on the implementation of the European Charter of Local
Self-Government of 2009, which Armenia also ratified.
Among others, we have initiated six pilot projects in which citizens
were allowed to vote via SMS. Voter turnout was low, however,
because the shift in consciousness necessary for more rights to
self-determination has not yet taken hold.
By Renat Kuenzi, swissinfo.ch Translated from German by Kathleen Peters
http://www.swissinfo.ch/directdemocracy/voices-of-the-armenian-osce-delegation/41082884
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress