Babken Pipoyan: Citizens are looking for people who are aware of the electoral system (video)
“Citizens have no idea about the new voting system in Armenia,” says the chairman of the Informed and Protected Consumer NGO. Babken Pipoyan says his NGO receives numerous telephone calls on this issue. "Citizens are looking for people who are aware of the electoral system. Most of them are confused over what is called a preferential voting (or rank voting) system. For years, people went to the polls to elect an MP under the majoritarian voting system and political forces under the proportional (party-list) system. This is still with us, especially considering the fact that individual candidates campaign very actively with their own posters and many are trying to vote a candidate or a political force without realizing that the votes will automatically go to the police force that he/she is affiliated with,” Mr Pipolyan said. He says both pro-government and opposition forces are to present the new voting system accurately to citizens. “People do not know that it is not mandatory to elect an individual candidate,” he stressed. The NGO will temporarily suspend its operations until April 2 (election day) many political forces view protection of consumer rights during the campaign period as pressure on them
