ARF-D lawmaker says party backs preterm elections ‘without haste’  

A lawmaker from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D) on Tuesday reiterated the party’s support to a plan for conducting pre-term parliamentary elections but said they are “strongly against” organizing the processes hastily.

“We back the plan for holding elections but are against their hasty conduct. We find that [the entire process] has to rely upon the logic of undertaking the necessary steps, which requires a considerable period of time,” Armen Rusamyan told reporters at the National Assembly.

He said that the political team insists on three "very important preconditions", which they find very important: full compliance with the amended Electoral Code (as opposed to the former legislation), increased role by the police (implying also their neutrality ruling out a any direct subordination to the prime minister) and reasonable time distribution to select appropriate timeframes.

“The constitutional norm currently in effect allows for the dissolution of parliament only after a failure to elect Prime Minister twice consecutively. The processes should help us select an acceptable date for conducting preterm elections,” Rusamyan explained.