Thursday, 3 March 2016
Government Approves New Electoral Code
A regular Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan.
The Government approved the Electoral Code and a set of draft amendments to other laws. Chief of Staff Government Staff David Harutyunyan said the new Electoral Code is based on constitutional amendments. On February 10 the President of the Republic of Armenia signed a decree setting deadlines for drafting those laws deriving from the Constitution. March 1 was set as a deadline for this package, which meant that we had only 13 days to develop the package. It is being introduced to you today just because there was no government session scheduled for March 1, and it was not appropriate to convene a special one.
It should be noted that the task force worked too hard, and we had a dilemma when the president was defined the deadlines. First, the time allotted for discussion of the government; the government then should organize and form a political discussion leading to a quasi final package before sending it to the National Assembly, and the second option was to focus for political debate in the National Assembly. And I think all of this was due to the fact that the Constitution itself has stipulated a deadline for the adoption of this package, namely June 1, 2016. I feel we were right to decide that the main burden of the discussion ought to be moved to the political arena – toward a body in which the whole political palette might be represented, and not the government.
And that is why the government set such a short deadline and, as I said, the main burden of was shifted to the National Assembly for discussion.
So, if we approve this package today, we will thereby announce the beginning of public discussion of this package, which will take place in Parliament, involving quite naturally the Government and the task force. I note once again that this is just a framework, which makes it possible to launch a public debate.
In our view, it is a sufficient basis. Here I should note that this new program differs from the draft submitted to the Venice Commission, but, naturally, given the time constraints, namely that the package must have been approved by June 1, we think that the work should be executed in parallel.
The first visit of experts is due in mid-March and, naturally, we will let them know the changes made to the draft after sending it to them. I think we will perform well in the second part of our work working in parallel with the public.
From now on, we will be briefing the public not only on the draft itself, but also on the recommendations of the working group in a comparative form,” David Harutyunyan said, assuring that not a single proposal would be ignored during this process.
The Government approved a set of draft amendments to the laws On Civil Code, On Use of Cash Registers, On Trade and Services, On Protection of Consumer Rights. According to the justification, the adoption of the bills will create a favorable legislative environment for the conduct of electronic transactions and e-commerce, which in turn may provide a legal basis for continued development of e-commerce in Armenia.
E-commerce will also contribute to the reduction of the shadow economy in the country. According to a USAID study, 15% increase the use of electronic payments will result in 7% reduction in the shadow economy.
To address the housing problems of old-timer hostel residents and their families, the Government adopted a resolution referred to as “On donation of residential space.” Those residents living in a dormitory at the 2 Goris Komsomol had applied to the State Property Management Department of the Republic of Armenia asking to be granted their dwelling places in order to have a permanent place of residence. Thus, the housing problem will be solved for 20 households.
The Executive made changes to one of its previous decisions to provide for continuity in the provision of interest rate subsidies for loans to the agricultural sector in 2016. The justification says that under the 2011-2015 programs of subsidized interest rates for agricultural loans, farmers were provided AMD 84.2 billion of the total amount available (14%) loans. The number of beneficiaries amounted to 98.9 thousand units.
The loans have helped properly organize the spring campaigns, agricultural and other activities, including the harvesting activities. The decision sets the following deadline for granting interest rate subsidies on loans March 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016.
