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CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM: CIVIL INITIATIVE SAYS CHANGES "WON'T PASS"
SOCIETY | 08.10.14 | 10:48
By SARA KHOJOYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
While the president-attached constitutional reform commission intends
to unveil the concept of changes in the country's basic law on October
15, the part of the society that finds such changes unnecessary says
"You Won't Pass" and forms a civil initiative.
Members of the group believe the intentions of the Armenian government
to make the changes and the started process are against democracy
and are going to call on international institutions not to give their
support to the Armenian authorities in this matter. At the same time,
they will try to mobilize the public sector to torpedo the process.
There is no need for a constitutional reform in Armenia as there is
no political crisis in the country, says political analyst, member of
the You Won't Pass group Armen Grigoryan. He estimates that there is
no even public demand for changes, as a survey conducted by APR Group
shows that 60 percent of the public does not find it necessary, and
14.5 percent of respondents found it difficult to answer the question
concerning the reform.
"These planned changes are the biggest challenge. It will result in a
deep crisis in the country. Armenia will take the path of North Korea,"
Grigoryan said during a discussion with NGOs during last weekend.
Under one of the concepts proposed by the commission, Armenia is to
become a parliamentary republic with a strong prime minister and only
a nominal president elected by members of parliament. Parliamentary
elections will thus become the main elections forming the government
in Armenia. Opposition parties and some observers believe this will
enable President Serzh Sargsyan to remain in power as head of the
ruling party after his second and last term in office ends in 2018.
Members of the initiative refer to the fact that there was no such
election pledge in the Republican Party's election program, concluding
that this way the government wants to ensure its "reproduction".
"In particular, the Republican Party, in contrast to Dashnaktsutyun,
Heritage, Prosperous Armenia, did not have a provision in its program
about switching to a parliamentary form of government. They have
always been against it and it prompts that Serzh Sargsyan tries to
reproduce the authorities," said lawyer Tigran Yegoryan during the
same discussion.
Most opposition forces also have premonitions that Sargsyan seeks to
ensure his stay in power as head of the National Assembly or leader
of the majority party. This issue is likely to feature prominently at
the joint rally of three opposition parties scheduled for October 10.
Still in April, when several blueprints for the reform were first
unveiled President Sargsyan pledged not to seek a high government
post after the end of his second and last term in office. After that,
representatives of the ruling party on numerous occasions insisted
that the goal of the constitutional reform is to make Armenia more
democratic by providing it with the parliamentary form of government.
Remarkably, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun),
the only parliamentary opposition party to back the idea of reforming
the Constitution today, believes that at present opposition forces
have no role in decision-making and that's why they offered their
variant of reforming the Constitution.
According to Yegoryan, however, there is no need to change the
Constitution for that purpose, as the reason for all this is the
misuse of the electoral system for the government's needs.
"This concept does not clearly formulate solutions. The government
cannot show any concrete reality that cannot be solved by the current
Constitution and can be solved under the proposed changes," he said.
Analyst Argishti Kiviryan believes that the plans for amending the
Constitution can be upset only if Sargsyan loses his equilibrium
inside his own party.
Interestingly, at a news briefing earlier this week Chairman of the
Constitutional Court of Armenia Gagik Harutyunyan, who also heads
the commission on the constitutional reform, did not rule out that
President Sargsyan may eventually not accept the variant implying a
transition to the parliamentary form of government.
From: Baghdasarian
SOCIETY | 08.10.14 | 10:48
By SARA KHOJOYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
While the president-attached constitutional reform commission intends
to unveil the concept of changes in the country's basic law on October
15, the part of the society that finds such changes unnecessary says
"You Won't Pass" and forms a civil initiative.
Members of the group believe the intentions of the Armenian government
to make the changes and the started process are against democracy
and are going to call on international institutions not to give their
support to the Armenian authorities in this matter. At the same time,
they will try to mobilize the public sector to torpedo the process.
There is no need for a constitutional reform in Armenia as there is
no political crisis in the country, says political analyst, member of
the You Won't Pass group Armen Grigoryan. He estimates that there is
no even public demand for changes, as a survey conducted by APR Group
shows that 60 percent of the public does not find it necessary, and
14.5 percent of respondents found it difficult to answer the question
concerning the reform.
"These planned changes are the biggest challenge. It will result in a
deep crisis in the country. Armenia will take the path of North Korea,"
Grigoryan said during a discussion with NGOs during last weekend.
Under one of the concepts proposed by the commission, Armenia is to
become a parliamentary republic with a strong prime minister and only
a nominal president elected by members of parliament. Parliamentary
elections will thus become the main elections forming the government
in Armenia. Opposition parties and some observers believe this will
enable President Serzh Sargsyan to remain in power as head of the
ruling party after his second and last term in office ends in 2018.
Members of the initiative refer to the fact that there was no such
election pledge in the Republican Party's election program, concluding
that this way the government wants to ensure its "reproduction".
"In particular, the Republican Party, in contrast to Dashnaktsutyun,
Heritage, Prosperous Armenia, did not have a provision in its program
about switching to a parliamentary form of government. They have
always been against it and it prompts that Serzh Sargsyan tries to
reproduce the authorities," said lawyer Tigran Yegoryan during the
same discussion.
Most opposition forces also have premonitions that Sargsyan seeks to
ensure his stay in power as head of the National Assembly or leader
of the majority party. This issue is likely to feature prominently at
the joint rally of three opposition parties scheduled for October 10.
Still in April, when several blueprints for the reform were first
unveiled President Sargsyan pledged not to seek a high government
post after the end of his second and last term in office. After that,
representatives of the ruling party on numerous occasions insisted
that the goal of the constitutional reform is to make Armenia more
democratic by providing it with the parliamentary form of government.
Remarkably, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun),
the only parliamentary opposition party to back the idea of reforming
the Constitution today, believes that at present opposition forces
have no role in decision-making and that's why they offered their
variant of reforming the Constitution.
According to Yegoryan, however, there is no need to change the
Constitution for that purpose, as the reason for all this is the
misuse of the electoral system for the government's needs.
"This concept does not clearly formulate solutions. The government
cannot show any concrete reality that cannot be solved by the current
Constitution and can be solved under the proposed changes," he said.
Analyst Argishti Kiviryan believes that the plans for amending the
Constitution can be upset only if Sargsyan loses his equilibrium
inside his own party.
Interestingly, at a news briefing earlier this week Chairman of the
Constitutional Court of Armenia Gagik Harutyunyan, who also heads
the commission on the constitutional reform, did not rule out that
President Sargsyan may eventually not accept the variant implying a
transition to the parliamentary form of government.
From: Baghdasarian