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The Armenian National Assembly rejected the government’s proposal to prolong the second hearing time period for the bill on electoral reforms to 72 hours.   

Earlier the government proposed to debate and pass the Electoral Code bill within 24 hours, however after hearing the lawmakers’ objections, it proposed to hold the second reading for the bill within 72 hours after the first reading. 

Only 44 lawmakers voted for the draft decision, with lawmakers from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation abstaining.

While the voting triggered tensions in the parliament, Speaker Ara Babloyan offered to consider the issue only after discussing and adopting it in the first reading.

Presenting the draft law, Acting Justice Minister Artak Zeynalyan said the reforms propose to hold elections with party list system of proportional representation instead of the current rating list system. It would lower the minimum threshold of making it to the parliament to 4 percent instead of the current 5 for parties and 6 percent instead of the current 7 for alliances.

The bill also proposed to decrease the amount of electoral deposits and increase women’s representation in the parliament to 30 percent.