On October 19 Mr.Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia received Ambassador Mr. Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan.

The core of the discussions was the Electoral Code and draft amendments to the Law on Radio and Television. At the Mr. Pryakhin’s request, Mr. Torosyan informed about the processes of both: the Electoral Code and draft amendments to the Law on Radio and Television. The NA President mentioned that everybody talks on holding the upcoming elections in conformity with democracy standards, irrespective of the fact to what extent they are concerned. Nevertheless, after some delay of the spring session, during the autumn session the experts’ proposals were taken into account in the debates of the Electoral Code; at the end of September there were discussions with experts from international organizations and the results were taken into account as well. In the upcoming four-day sittings the Electoral Code will be debated in the first reading in the Parliament, and in the December four-day sittings it will be adopted in the second reading, having received the experts’ final conclusion. Mr. Torosyan emphasized that the important thing is not only to be on time before the Parliamentary elections, but also the quality of the Electoral Code and giving relevant solutions in conformity with international standards to the issues on electoral processes.

Ambassador Mr. Vladimir Pryakhin, Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan reconfirmed the OSCE readiness to assist in the adoption of the top-notch Electoral Code and expressed satisfaction that the works on the adoption of the Electoral Code are programmed to complete by the end of the year. At the same time he requested the NA President that the Armenian side sends invitations to international organizations’ observation missions for the upcoming Parliamentary elections till the end of the year.

In the course of the meeting they also touched upon the draft on Radio and Television, which is within of legislative amendments’ framework stipulated by the Constitutional reforms. Mr. Pryakhin noted that the OSCE concern is related to the NA debates of the draft prior to public discussions and without the journalists’ endorsement. He expressed his satisfaction that the NA President stopped the further debates on the draft. Mr. Pryakhin expressed distrust towards the effectiveness of electronic debate on the website of the Ministry of Justice, since this type of communication is widely spread all around the world though, but is not well developed in Armenia. The NA President believes, that the delay of the draft adoption is a waste of time before the Parliamentary elections. Besides that the draft adoption is within the framework of meeting the obligations, the activities of electronic mass media are regulated by this draft, which is of great importance in pre-election period. Mr. Torosyan proposed all interested parties to present their proposals to debate and find the best solutions even at the beginning of October, during the debates in the first reading. The Parliament haven’t received any proposal, besides of some non-governmental and international organizations’ sounded concerns, which, unfortunately, remained only within the framework of public speeches. The NA President mentioned that without doubt he is concerned to have the best law, but common sense requires that the draft is adopted in the first reading and necessary amendments are made before the second reading (which is an accepted and justified procedure in the National Assembly). But in the current situation the draft hardly will be adopted at the autumn session, since no any draft was presented to the National Assembly. Nevertheless, Mr. Torosyan expressed a hope that the draft would be adopted at the spring session.