Influence of Electoral System on Implementation of Democracy Discussed in Yerevan

On 17 December, Yerevan office of the International Institute for Monitoring the Democracy Development, Parliamentarianism and Suffrage Protection of Citizens of IPA CIS Member Nations (IPA CIS IIMDD) organized a roundtable “Influence of Electoral System on Implementation of Democracy”.

The participants of the meeting were presented the results of two academic studies conducted by the Office in 2022: “Influence of Electoral System on Implementation of Democracy” and “Democracy and Elections: the Activities of Local Government in Republic of Armenia”.

The roundtable was opened by Director of the IPA CIS IMDD Yerevan office, doctor of law, professor Vahram Avetisyan. He noted that the academic studies organized by the Office and conducted by well-known research and practice experts in this field were devoted to the study of democracy, mechanisms of its implementation in the Republic of Armenia, current legal and political challenges of the transformation of democracy, the choice of electoral system, establishment of representative democracy, etc.

Deputy Head of the IPA CIS Council Secretariat – Director of the IPA CIS IIMDD, doctor of law, professor Ivan Mushket in his welcoming speech noted that Republic of Armenia in the course of political development used various political (semi-presidential, parliamentary republic), and electoral (mixed, proportional) systems. This indicates that in the process of reforming state and electoral systems, historical features of legal and political systems, culture and traditions of a particular state, as well as current geopolitical situation in the world are taken into account, which makes it possible to achieve more effective work of representative bodies.

Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of Republic of Armenia Vaagn Hovakimyan and his Deputy Nune Hovhannisyan took part in the roundtable.

Presentations were made by Head of the Department of Constitutional Law of Yerevan State University, PhD, Associate Professor Vardan Ayvazyan (“Modern approaches to the perception of democracy”), Associate Professor of the Department of Constitutional Law of Yerevan State University, Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, PhD Anahit Manasyan (“The choice of the electoral system and the strengthening of representative democracy in in the context of modern political and Legal challenges”), Associate Professor of the Department of Theory of State and Law and History of Yerevan State University, PhD Taron Simonyan (“Modern political and legal challenges in the context of the transformation of democracy: factors of influence”), as well as Head of the Legal Department of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia, PhD, Associate Professor Lilia Hakobyan (“Problems of ensuring the representative nature of the government formed within the framework of municipal elections”).

First Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) of Armenia Larisa Alaverdyan, Judge of the Constitutional Court of the Republic Artur Vagarshyan, members of the Central Electoral Commission, as well as representatives of partner universities of the Office also took an active part in the event.