The Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR generally welcome these steps to reduce the conditions established for forming a political party. Concerning the territorial requirement, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR have stated that “[a] requirement for geographic distribution of party members can also potentially represent a severe restriction of political participation at the local and regional levels incompatible with the right to freeassociation”. Moreover, the current impossibility to establish parties operating only at the local level, “may further reduce political diversity”. The ECtHR has raised similar concerns with regard to the need for territorial representation of political parties in its case law. However, none of the interlocutors were concerned by this. Most pointed out the size of Armenia and considered that requiring a party to be represented in one third of the territory was a reasonable expectation. Therefore, even though the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR have recommended in the past to avoid any territorial requirement, the registration requirements appear not to be too burdensome in the current context.