LOS ANGELES,Calif.—Six hundred people came to the University of Southern California (USC) on Jan. 29, to hear scholars and experts talk about the challenges of electoral politics everywhere, and especially in Armenia. Five political scientists,five artists, and three practitioners from six locations spoke about the realities and challenges of democratization. Their message resonated with the capacity crowd at USC’s Bovard Auditorium who interrupted with applause more than a dozen times during the Celebrity Diplomacy program hosted by the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. The Celebrity Diplomacy program hosted by USC Institute of Armenian Studies. (Photo: USC Institute of Armenian Studies) In her introduction and welcome, or Salpi Ghazarian,director of the Institute of Armenian Studies at USC, explained: “What we want to attain is to understand that Armenia is neither unique nor alone in trying to tackle these issues.” “We are trying to understand electoral politicsin Armenia and around the world. Armenia’s parliamentary election, and scheduled for April 2 of this year is historic,” she continued. “With this election, Armenia will transition to a parliamentary system of government where genuine power shifts to the prime minister. The party that gets a majority of the vote will choose the prime minister. [...]
Source: armenianweekly.com