YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan). The Parliament discussed the draft election code in its second reading–Wednesday.
Viktor Dallakian–on the behalf of the "Yerkrapah" deputy group said that about 300 proposals have been received after the discussion of the draft in its first reading; 170 of them were accepted by the authors of the draft and over 30 were accepted partially. The proposals have been authored by 97 MPs–15 parties–two public organizations and seven specialized institutions–two of them being international ones. Joint discussions with the Central Electoral Commission were held as well.
Dallakian described as gratifying the fact that opposition parties such as the Communist Party of Armenia–the Self-Determination Union and "Shamiram" also made proposals.
The aforementioned facts serve as grounds for Dallakian to draw the conclusion that "the boycott can be said to have failed."
Outlining the major amendmen’s–Dallakian drew his colleagues’ attention to the provisions included in the draft after it was discussed in the first reading. They were discussed in the first-reading regime and put to vote one by one.
About a dozen provisions deal with the responsibility for violating the code.
The Parliament didn’t take a decision only on one provision stipulating that from 2003 on 66 deputies will be elected by the proportional election system and 65 by the majority election system. It should be noted that the draft provides for electing 56 deputies by the proportional election system and 75 by the majority election system in 1999.
At the suggestion of the "Yerkrapah" deputy group Parliament decided to continue discussions on January 25 1999–which will allow the authors of the draft to correct the inaccuracies in the draft and continue political consultations with other political forces.
As was earlier announced–the "Hayrenik" deputy group as well as the "Hanrapetutiun" (with some exceptions) and "NDU" factions opted out of the voting just like it did during previous votings.