YEREVAN, /ARKA/. By a vote of 77 the Armenian parliament passed today in the second and final reading a set of amendments and additions to the Criminal Code, the Code of Administrative Offenses and the Law on Citizenship, which criminalize obstruction of election campaigning, coercion to vote and vote buying.
The opposition Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia parties did not participate in the voting.According to a change, in case of obstruction of the electoral process at a polling station, the results of the vote at that polling stations can be invalidated.The changes provide for responsibility for coercion to campaigning. The use of force or the threat of the use of force in a polling station or at its entrance are also criminalized as well as giving or receiving bribes, violation of the ban on charity during the pre-election period or obstruction of the free expression of the will of voters.Under the current rules, the above-mentioned violations are punishable by a fine or imprisonment for a period of 6 months to a year. According to the approved amendments, the criminal punishment for almost all offenses are raised to 1 to 3 years.During the second reading, a proposal was removed that criminalized publication of false information about parliament factions, alliances or candidates participating in the elections.Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan resigned on Sunday, but will stay in office in a caretaker capacity until the June 20 parliamentary election aimed to defuse the protracted political crisis in the country. Pashinyan said he would stand as a candidate for prime minister.He has been facing opposition demands to resign since he signed a peace deal in November with Azerbaijani and Russian leaders to end the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh that claimed thousands of young lives, and saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that had been held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter of a century.
