A key National Assembly committee has appointed for February 15 full chamber hearings on opposition-proposed amendments to the electoral law that seek to scrap single-seat ballots some three months before the parliamentary polls.

Two minority factions, Heritage and Dashnaktsutyun, have sought since late last year to introduce changes in the current legislation to allow the 131 members of parliament to be elected only on party lists (under the current legislation, 41 MPs are elected from single-mandate constituencies).

The move attracted the support of the broader opposition outside the parliament as well as some individual members of pro-establishment forces. In particular, the proposal on holding hearings on the issue was also seconded by Prosperous Armenia, a pro-government faction in the National Assembly.

The opposition claims that the so-called majoritarian voting system in which lawmakers are elected directly from constituencies as opposed to the proportional ballot in which citizens vote for a political party or a bloc has been abused in Armenia by wealthy individuals with extensive government links. They argue that in such elections campaigning is rarely done along political lines, while the focus of pledges is improving local infrastructure, providing social aid, etc., a function reserved for local government bodies. Critics say that such elections are a major source of vote buying, ballot-box stuffing and other forms of electoral fraud. Besides, they argue, having several dozen loyal lawmakers elected from single-seat constituencies gives the ruling party an advantage in advance and precludes the opposition from winning a majority in the legislature.

Meanwhile, the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and its supporters, while not opposing a switch to an all-proportional ballot in principle, argue the move is still early for Armenia and, if realized, will harm the representation of regions in the one-tier parliament.

After Wednesday’s decision by the National Assembly’s Committee on State and Legal Affairs, MP Hovhannes Sahakyan from the RPA faction said the hearings will be held to avoid political speculations over the issue later on.

“The matter was discussed within the party and it was decided that parliamentary hearings be held. But the party has not changed its position on the issue of switching to a 100-percent proportional electoral system, we are against the opposition proposal and will express this position by voting,” he said.

Heritage faction head Stepan Safaryan also acknowledged that the RPA’s not opposing the holding of parliamentary hearings did not yet mean any drastic change of view on the matter within the main ruling force. But he says some RPA members pronounce in favor of embracing an all-party list election model.

“But the ballot will be open and it is difficult to say whether they will be able to vote according to their conscience,” he said.

Earlier, RPA spokesman and deputy speaker of parliament Eduard Sharmazanov rebuked the coalition partner, Prosperous Armenia, over backing the opposition motion for parliamentary hearings on the all-proportional elections matter. He said that Prosperous Armenia was not being “honest and sincere” in its actions.

“The coalition memorandum obliges all coalition forces to implement the programs of the president, but our coalition partner’s words and actions do not match,” said Sharmazanov. (The comment is clearly a reference to the phrase that Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan likes to repeat: “We do what we say!”)

Prosperous Armenia’s MP Naira Zohrabyan answered: “We have such classical examples when the words and actions [of the RPA] do not match, when they completely fail to act or act in a way that causes damage that, if necessary, we can present them one by one.”

During the February 15 hearings the initiators of the move will have an opportunity to make 10-minute speeches. Then, critics and other participants of the hearings will express their views. The Committee on State and Legal Affairs and political parties will draw up the list of participants.