In an interview with Tert.am, Tevan Poghosyan an MP of the Heritage party, commented on the draft Chapters 1-7 of Armenia’s new Constitution.
According to him, the draft contains defects, which need correcting.
Hovhannes Sahakyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs, Parliament of Armenia, notes that a Constitution is a most complicated document and numerous issues related to the draft naturally need to be discussed and submitted to the public.
Mr Poghosyan primarily highlights confidence in the election system as he does not think any confidence-inspiring mechanisms are available and the Constitution will be enforced.
“I am more interested in the process than in the defects of the text given the fact that I am not sure of whether the results will correspond to the facts,” the MP said.
He is not sure of whether the public needs the amendments. He sees a need for a survey. The revised draft envisages a switchover to parliamentary government with reduced presidential powers. On the other hand, it says the president is head of the state and it is not clear what is going to be practiced.
As regards electorate organization, Mr Poghosyan said that it is unclear what law is going to regulate it.
“There is no sense in forming an opinion of defective things, and it is processes that need more attention.
Presenting your opinion on the text would be more an intellectual exercise,” he said.
Mr Poghosyan points out a need for public demand for constitutional amendments. However, Armenian citizens have no clear idea of how the Constitution works or of the need for amendments.
“Armenia’s current parliament has very good powers. However, since the parliamentary majority is capable of settling any issue, the Parliament does not use half of its powers. Therefore, how can I be sure that powers envisages by the draft amendments will be put into practice,” the MP said.
Elaborating on the government system he said that he prefers parliamentary government.
“I am for the European model, but I cannot impose it on society.”
As regards opposition forces powers, Mr Poghosyan mentioned a number of weak points.
For his part Mr Hovhannes Sahakyan highlights parliamentary elections by means of the proportional representation system, a switchover to parliamentary government, and supervisory Parliament-Government mechanisms envisaged in the draft amendments.
Source: tert.am