Today a recurrent OSCE monitoring is to be held at the contact line of the armed forces of the NKR and Azerbaijan. The monitoring will be conducted in the direction of Mardakert. {BR} Private representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk will take part in the observation from the Azeri party.

A1+ website has conducted a survey to find out the opinion of the Armenian people on the system of public administration in the RA. 149 people, who took part in the survey, answered the following way. {BR} 47.7 % of those surveyed would like the government system to be replaced with parliamentary, 29.% support semi-presidential government while 20.8% prefer presidential one.

Vardan Grigoryan, secretary of the party «National Democratic Union», and assistant of Arshak Sadoyan, has resigned from the party. Let us remind you that there were contradictions between Vardan Grigoryan and Arshak Sadoyan after the complaints of the latter about the activity of the Justice Bloc. {BR} When it was announced in «Justice» that after Sadoyan's criticism it would be better for him...

During his visit to Yerevan the head of the Turkish Union of Industrialists and Businessmen passed the greetings of the Turkish Minister of foreign affairs and Prime Minister to the Armenia Nation through the journalists. {BR} The press-conference of the Turkish businessman arrested attention for several points. First, Mr. Soyak expressed his willingness to organize a dialogue about the Armenian-Turkish...

''It is very important to preserve the suffrage of people'', Chairman of the NA Permanent Commission of Defense Affairs, Home Affairs and National Security Mher Shahgeldyan stated when speaking of the necessity to fix the military's suffrage in the Election Code. It is not a secret that in our country a soldier is considered to be not a voter but an instrument in the hands of the authorities –...

All over the world a citizens is deprived of a franchise in two cases: either according to a court decision or he is recognized as incapable. A soldier possesses the same rights as any other voter, that is why in other states he does not differ from the electorate. In case of passive right – the right of being elected – some limitations are applied to the UK military. For instance, a...

The acting Election Code lying on the working table of Chairman of the Central Election Committee (CEC) Garegin Azaryan has its peculiarities. In the black-and-white Code the items subject to changes are underlined with blue ink. There are remarks at almost all the pages of the Code. The CEC of course has no rights to submit any proposals on amendments to the National Assembly, therefore the Code can...

During the elections we often hear complains that the soldiers are being conveyed by buses from one polling station to another and are forced to vote for several times. Armenian National Movement (ANM) and of the Communist Party of Armenia (CPA) members are convinced that a soldier is a citizen and should exercise his franchise. “I think soldiers should do their civic duty in any civilized...

“If I were a commander I would force my subordinates to vote for my candidate. Fancy what will happen if my candidate does not win, an opposition force is formed and I support it?” a young man said when answering our question about participation of the army in the elections. 40% of the surveyed consider that soldiers should not participate in any kind of elections explaining their opinion...

Hovik Abrahamyan, Minister of local governing bodies, promised the journalists today that this year the elections of local governing bodies will be free, just, and transparent. One of the journalists asked if they will be freer and juster than in 2002, and Hovik Abrahamyan said jokingly, «Yes, the electoral boxes will be larges this time». {BR} Hovik Abrahamyan announced that they are not concerned...

On the offer of the draft constitution put forward by the coalition it is supposed that the RA National Anthem will be changed. “It will set us free of this poor medieval song”, Rafik Petrosyan, head of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, said about the present anthem of RA. {BR} Tigran Torosyan, NA deputy president, did not like the expression and asked everyone to respect...

Today the discussion of the Constitutional amendments resumed in NA. This work will be done within the coming 2 weeks in the NA Committee of integrating into the European Structures. Today the Committee referred to the first chapter of the 3 draft constitutions which refers to the bases of the Constitutional order. {BR} The discussions are going on according to the developed order. The Committee will...

“The failure of the first 3-day sitting of the spring session cannot be ground enough for the dissolution of the Parliament”, said Tigran Torosyan, deputy president of the National Assembly. But this factor means something else: that parliamentarism is not present in Armenia. {BR} “Parliamentarism will fully be realized in our country only in case the parties are fully realized,...

''If we politicize a street incident we will break up the activities of the law enforcement bodies'', ARFD faction leader Levon Mkrtchyan tried to justify the vague and wait-and-see attitude of the ARFD on the criminal situation in the country and especially on the skirmish in one of the Yerevan districts.{BR} Taking into consideration that so many crimes, including the murder of party-fellow Poghos...

Today New Times party leader, former ARFD member Aram Karapetyan invited journalists to declare about his intention start a ''revolution from below'' in April. Several months earlier he warned the authorities that if they do not make serious system changes, he will launch a popular revolution. ''No changes took place, while the removal of some ministers from office was a mere imitation'', he said....

''Parliament may be dissolved only in case the ruling coalition quits supporting the President'', United Labor Party leader Gurgen Arsenyan commented to the hearsay of possible dissolution of the parliament. {BR} People’s Deputy faction head Mkrtich Minasyan stated that the remarks on parliament’s dereliction are too strict. He does not think that the coalition fails in fulfilling the tasks...

“I cannot say who will be Kocharyan's successor, but I can firmly say that I will be elected the Armenian President in 2018”, head of the Republican Party of Armenia Galust Sahakyan stated during today’s briefing. {BR} Today he does not see any political motives for holding extra-ordinary elections or any reason for dissolving the parliament, since the conversations on the existing...

The party «New Times» promises a National revolution. Today the party has made an announcement that in March several strategy problems will be cleared out and revolution will start. But why does the party want a revolution? {BR} «Instead of carrying out the structural amendments put forward by us the RA Government made the political crisis still graver, suffering defeats in the fields of both internal...

While the Parliament carried out fruitless discussions, the Justice bloc was considering in a session whether to or not to take part in the Constitutional discussions. {BR} On the very day of the coalition's announcement Justice had announced that they will not take part in the discussions of the Constitutional amendments, as it is meaningless to discuss the Constitution with a coalition which does...

Today the Parliament was standing idle: first, quorum was not secured (possibly on purpose), and the session started only at 12, and then the Parliament began to discuss in every detail different international treaties. {BR} And as far as there were no other issues in the agenda, several delegates, mainly from the Country of Law Party, asked the main reporters detailed questions. Today the Parliament...

This morning the works in the National Assembly started not at 10 o’clock, as it was planned, but at 12, due to the absence of quorum. {BR}

«Either we have no skill to protect our own country, or the country banishes his sons. Do one have at least one king buried in the present territory of Armenia? Have you thought about it? ». Today in the club «Pakagits» Alexan Kirakosyan, a state political figure, who enjoyed great authority in the political and cultural fields in the Soviet times, tried to analyze the events taking place around...

«We consider Armen Avetisyan as a «prisoner of conscience», Eleonora Manandyan, head of the organization «New Armenia» said today in the press conferences headlined «Freedom to Political Prisoners». {BR} The Head of «New Armenia» said that they are alone in this act, and in fact not a single judicial organization has joined them. According to her, it is accounted for by the fact that they have not announced that they support Armen Avetisyan....

Today only those 20 deputies, who had something to declare were present in the parliament session hall during the time fixed for making announcements. The opposition deputies used their time to highlight the necessity of the power change and mention of the failures of the leadership in foreign policy.{BR} Victor Dallakyan declared that our republic in on the moral decline at present and reminded that...