YEREVAN (RFE/RL)—Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian on Thursday held a series of meetings with representatives of the country’s political parties to discuss plans for a controversial constitutional reform initiated by his administration.
Under the draft concept of constitutional amendments unveiled by a committee of experts last year Armenia will become a parliamentary republic with a powerful prime minister and a largely ceremonial president. Most opposition parties in Armenia fear lest Sarkisian, whose second and final presidential term ends in 2018, should use this circumstance to remain in a senior government position after leaving his current post. Sarkisian has pledged not to seek such a post if the reform is carried out, but as leader of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) he is certain to remain influential in Armenian politics even without a formal government position.
Still last year the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission gave a generally positive assessment to the draft concept, saying that the proposed changes in the Armenian Constitution would “strengthen democratic principles and establish the necessary conditions for ensuring the rule of law and respect for human rights.” At the same time, the commission noted that the transition to a parliamentary republic requires “broad consensus within society.”
Only one parliamentary minority party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), openly backed the idea of reforming the Constitution to turn Armenia into a parliamentary republic. The other four minority factions in the Armenian parliament, including the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), the Armenian National Congress (HAK), Heritage and Orinats Yerkir, questioned the need for the reform.
Three of those opposition parties, including the BHK, the HAK and Heritage, held a series of rallies in Yerevan and elsewhere in the country last fall demanding solutions to pressing economic and social problems as well as urging Sarkisian to abandon his plans to change the basic law.
The current administration’s plans for amending the Constitution appeared to be the catalyst for the dramatic showdown in February in which President Sarkisian and his ruling HHK effectively forced tycoon Gagik Tsarukian, one of the vocal opponents of the reform, to resign as BHK leader and retire from politics.
Members of the BHK, which declared itself to be in opposition to the Sarkisian government after the change of leadership last week, sounded less categorical in their criticism regarding the constitutional reform since then.
The BHK’s newly elected leader Naira Zohrabian and other senior members of the party met with President Sarkisian today to discuss issues related to the constitutional reform.
BHK spokesperson Vahan Babayan issued a statement on the results of the meeting, saying that representatives of the BHK “reaffirmed their position on the constitutional changes that had been stated before.” He did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, President Sarkisian, according to his press service, also met with several other critics of the reform, including the leader of Orinats Yerkir, Artur Baghdasarian, and two other senior members of the party. No details of their discussion were revealed immediately.
Earlier, talking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun), senior member of the opposition Heritage party Armen Martirosian said that they had set a number of conditions to the government, including the transition from the current mixed system of parliamentary elections based on party-list and single-mandate constituency votes to a legislature elected solely on the party-list basis. Heritage also wants the names and addresses of citizens who go to the polls to be published after elections. Its representative said it would consider participating in the discussions on the contents of the constitutional amendments if these and some other conditions are met.
(Government officials have insisted that abolishing elections from single-mandate constituencies will affect representation of provinces in the unicameral Armenian parliament, while the publication of lists of citizens who take part in the elections is against the principle of secret ballot.)
The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), meanwhile, reiterated its strong opposition to the constitutional reform. HAK parliamentary leader Levon Zurabian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun) that they will continue to oppose the changes even if they are left alone in this struggle.
According to the presidential press office, on Thursday President Sarkisian also met with representatives of the ARF and a number of extraparliamentary parties.
Finally, Armenia is getting on the right track and weedout the 70 years of commo mentality, even then, after independence, during Der-bedrossian’s established regime of (excuse the expression) “pissing in each-other’s pockets”.
ARMENIA DESERVED BETTER
We will have reform in Armenia one way or another, but the sooner we get rid of this Sharlatan the better off we are.
European Sharlatans are not much better. we have been paying to European Sharlatans for over 100 years, at least he is our Sharlatan, and he’s not doing that bad.
GeorgeMadig, “people” like you deserve to live in Armenia and suffer like the rest of us. We are buiding Armenia in spite of “our Sharlatans” and morons like you. “He is not doing that bad”??? Europe is bad, Russia is bad, America is bad – who cares? We are talking about thieves running our country and ruining it. And “people” like you give support to those who brought poverty and ruin to Armenia while they are enjoying a beautiful life for themselves. Come to Armenia and enjoy the fruits of “our Sharlatan” and I’ll see if you’ll be singing the same stupid song. On the second thought, stay away. We have enough “spoiled fruit” as it is.