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PRESS RELEASE
THE HERITAGE PARTY
7 Vazgen Sargsian Street
Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Tel: (+374 - 10) 580.877
Fax: (+374 - 10) 543.897
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.heritage.am
September 20, 2005
The Heritage Party Position on Draft Constitutional Amendments
No.
The Constitution is the fundamental law of the land and its citizens. The
most authoritative source of rights, it defines and guarantees the
structure of state, its political system, and civil liberties and
obligations. Its legitimacy and force of example turn on its acceptance as
the fruit of political consensus and civic confidence.
The Constitution is not a game. It is not a means or excuse to cling to a
political seat or to clarify private relationships. It is not a veneer to
gloss over cracks in the republican home and to hide societal sicknesses.
Our home is cracked, divided, and under pressure. The first decade and a
half of our rediscovered independence have borne witness to an impressive
array of legal and human rights violations committed, in large measure,
under the very cover of cunning constitutional and legislative references.
Testifying to the subjugation of the absolute benchmark of the national
interest to layers of personal gain, our Homeland has been usurped, our
voice and vote have been grabbed away, millions of individual destinies have
been torn asunder, and the assets and inheritance that belong to the
generations have been stolen or sold off together with any remnant sense of
honor.
And then wonderful talk about national interests and security, the rule of
law, rights and freedoms, civil society, democracy, Constitution.
We have already crossed the final frontier of forging and being forged,
deceiving and self-deceiving. The world is not dumb, and Armenia is not a
gaming hall.
Against this light, the Heritage Party finds that:
· The sovereignty of the people, as the sole carrier of authority
under the Constitution, together with the factor of its decisive empowerment
have long remained latent in real life. This has found its simple
reflection in all functions of critical import for our statehood, and has
been expressed through the doubtful level of legality of virtually every
Armenian administration and thus even of the laws each has enacted.
· The official version of constitutional amendments, by virtue of
several provisions and standards set forth therein, represents a relative
step forward in comparison with the existing Constitution.
· The crown of illegitimacy earned by our country's authorities
beginning ten years ago and cresting in 2003 is not commensurate even with
the lowest threshold required to posit constitutional amendments for an
accountable public vote.
· If in the present conditions that document is put to referendum,
the most compelling priority will become not its small substantive
advantage, but the imperative of democracy through the conduct of a free,
fair, and truly participatory electoral procedure. Any breach or falsehood,
whether during the campaign, on election day or in the counting, will strike
a blow to the Republic of Armenia, its esteem and future, its every citizen.
Our heritage as witness, that shall be the final shame of modern Armenian
history.
Heritage, a national liberal party, will stand at full capacity for the
democratic integrity of the process and a democratic result on the merits.
Considering that the instant draft of the Constitution, as much as it
betokens a textual improvement, is in essence a collection of half-measures
born of unhealthy circumstances, the party is now preparing and will soon
make public its own alternative Armenian Constitution. Our firm expectation
is that, among other things ruling out any prejudicial propensity toward the
undemocratic reproduction of authority, it will become one of the
cornerstones of our forthcoming political quest and with its inclusive
vitality will guide Armenia through the 21st Century, permanently offering
sound answers and comprehensive solutions to the national challenges of our
times.
20 September 2005
Yerevan
THE HERITAGE PARTY
7 Vazgen Sargsian Street
Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Tel: (+374 - 10) 580.877
Fax: (+374 - 10) 543.897
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.heritage.am
September 20, 2005
The Heritage Party Position on Draft Constitutional Amendments
No.
The Constitution is the fundamental law of the land and its citizens. The
most authoritative source of rights, it defines and guarantees the
structure of state, its political system, and civil liberties and
obligations. Its legitimacy and force of example turn on its acceptance as
the fruit of political consensus and civic confidence.
The Constitution is not a game. It is not a means or excuse to cling to a
political seat or to clarify private relationships. It is not a veneer to
gloss over cracks in the republican home and to hide societal sicknesses.
Our home is cracked, divided, and under pressure. The first decade and a
half of our rediscovered independence have borne witness to an impressive
array of legal and human rights violations committed, in large measure,
under the very cover of cunning constitutional and legislative references.
Testifying to the subjugation of the absolute benchmark of the national
interest to layers of personal gain, our Homeland has been usurped, our
voice and vote have been grabbed away, millions of individual destinies have
been torn asunder, and the assets and inheritance that belong to the
generations have been stolen or sold off together with any remnant sense of
honor.
And then wonderful talk about national interests and security, the rule of
law, rights and freedoms, civil society, democracy, Constitution.
We have already crossed the final frontier of forging and being forged,
deceiving and self-deceiving. The world is not dumb, and Armenia is not a
gaming hall.
Against this light, the Heritage Party finds that:
· The sovereignty of the people, as the sole carrier of authority
under the Constitution, together with the factor of its decisive empowerment
have long remained latent in real life. This has found its simple
reflection in all functions of critical import for our statehood, and has
been expressed through the doubtful level of legality of virtually every
Armenian administration and thus even of the laws each has enacted.
· The official version of constitutional amendments, by virtue of
several provisions and standards set forth therein, represents a relative
step forward in comparison with the existing Constitution.
· The crown of illegitimacy earned by our country's authorities
beginning ten years ago and cresting in 2003 is not commensurate even with
the lowest threshold required to posit constitutional amendments for an
accountable public vote.
· If in the present conditions that document is put to referendum,
the most compelling priority will become not its small substantive
advantage, but the imperative of democracy through the conduct of a free,
fair, and truly participatory electoral procedure. Any breach or falsehood,
whether during the campaign, on election day or in the counting, will strike
a blow to the Republic of Armenia, its esteem and future, its every citizen.
Our heritage as witness, that shall be the final shame of modern Armenian
history.
Heritage, a national liberal party, will stand at full capacity for the
democratic integrity of the process and a democratic result on the merits.
Considering that the instant draft of the Constitution, as much as it
betokens a textual improvement, is in essence a collection of half-measures
born of unhealthy circumstances, the party is now preparing and will soon
make public its own alternative Armenian Constitution. Our firm expectation
is that, among other things ruling out any prejudicial propensity toward the
undemocratic reproduction of authority, it will become one of the
cornerstones of our forthcoming political quest and with its inclusive
vitality will guide Armenia through the 21st Century, permanently offering
sound answers and comprehensive solutions to the national challenges of our
times.
20 September 2005
Yerevan