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ARMENIAN OPPOSITION TO SEEK 'SOLID' PRESENCE IN PARLIAMENT TO IMPEACH SARGSYAN
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow
28.10.11 | 19:42
Snap elections failing, the Armenian National Congress (ANC) will
seek to secure a "solid" presence in the National Assembly in next
year's polls to launch a legal impeachment process against President
Serzh Sargsyan, ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan said on Friday.
Speaking before several thousand supporters in Yerevan's central
Liberty Square, the ex-president said that his opposition alliance
was still very much committed to making every effort to force the
authorities to hold early elections, but stressed that regardless of
the turn of events they should also be ready to deal seriously with
"mechanical" issues of organizing fair elections.
"Domestic political struggle in Armenia is entering a pre-election
stage," said Ter-Petrosyan. "If we fail to get Serzh Sargsyan to resign
in the time to come - and nothing can be ruled out in politics - then
the ANC will seek to secure such a solid presence in the National
Assembly that would enable it alone or with other allies to raise
the issue of impeaching Serzh Sargsyan."
Under the Constitution of Armenia (Article 57), a resolution to remove
the president from office can be passed by the National Assembly by
a two-thirds majority vote of the total number of deputies, based on
a relevant conclusion of the Constitutional Court sought before that
by at least a majority of the deputies.
Almost all speakers at the rally referred to the example of toppled
Arab regimes, in particular of Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in
Egypt and the latest violent death of Libya's longtime ruler Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi. Yet, they stopped short of explicitly calling for
a violent overthrow of authorities.
Hundreds of opposition supporters took part in a more than weeklong
sitting strike in Liberty Square beginning September 30. The opposition
then said it would consider staging more "nonstop" protests unless
their demands for early elections were met soon.
At the latest rally Ter-Petrosyan, however, stopped short of calling
for immediate large-scale protests. Instead the opposition marched
through central streets of Yerevan.
The ANC scheduled its next rally for November 25 when, Ter-Petrosyan
said, it will specify its further mode of action.
Nonstop protests staged by Ter-Petrosyan supporters in the wake of
the disputed February 2008 presidential election resulted in violent
clashes with law-enforcement in which ten people were killed. The
crackdown led to Armenia's deepest political crisis since independence.
By Suren Musayelyan
ArmeniaNow
28.10.11 | 19:42
Snap elections failing, the Armenian National Congress (ANC) will
seek to secure a "solid" presence in the National Assembly in next
year's polls to launch a legal impeachment process against President
Serzh Sargsyan, ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan said on Friday.
Speaking before several thousand supporters in Yerevan's central
Liberty Square, the ex-president said that his opposition alliance
was still very much committed to making every effort to force the
authorities to hold early elections, but stressed that regardless of
the turn of events they should also be ready to deal seriously with
"mechanical" issues of organizing fair elections.
"Domestic political struggle in Armenia is entering a pre-election
stage," said Ter-Petrosyan. "If we fail to get Serzh Sargsyan to resign
in the time to come - and nothing can be ruled out in politics - then
the ANC will seek to secure such a solid presence in the National
Assembly that would enable it alone or with other allies to raise
the issue of impeaching Serzh Sargsyan."
Under the Constitution of Armenia (Article 57), a resolution to remove
the president from office can be passed by the National Assembly by
a two-thirds majority vote of the total number of deputies, based on
a relevant conclusion of the Constitutional Court sought before that
by at least a majority of the deputies.
Almost all speakers at the rally referred to the example of toppled
Arab regimes, in particular of Ben Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in
Egypt and the latest violent death of Libya's longtime ruler Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi. Yet, they stopped short of explicitly calling for
a violent overthrow of authorities.
Hundreds of opposition supporters took part in a more than weeklong
sitting strike in Liberty Square beginning September 30. The opposition
then said it would consider staging more "nonstop" protests unless
their demands for early elections were met soon.
At the latest rally Ter-Petrosyan, however, stopped short of calling
for immediate large-scale protests. Instead the opposition marched
through central streets of Yerevan.
The ANC scheduled its next rally for November 25 when, Ter-Petrosyan
said, it will specify its further mode of action.
Nonstop protests staged by Ter-Petrosyan supporters in the wake of
the disputed February 2008 presidential election resulted in violent
clashes with law-enforcement in which ten people were killed. The
crackdown led to Armenia's deepest political crisis since independence.