Armenian opposition to cooperate with ruling coalition if proposals accepted

Noyan Tapan news agency
20 Jan 05

YEREVAN

The Justice opposition bloc and the National Unity Party made a joint
statement on 19 January, addressing the ruling coalition. The document
adopted at the initiative of the Justice opposition bloc suggests that
the coalition parties reach agreement on some principles of forming
the executives and judicial branches of power and local government
bodies.

The opposition suggests that the composition of the government
presented by the president should be approved by the parliament,
Viktor Dallakyan, secretary of the parliamentary faction of the
opposition Justice bloc, told our Noyan Tapan correspondent after the
sitting of the opposition bloc on the same day. If the president’s
proposal is rejected, the composition of the government should be
proposed by the parliament.

It is suggested that the presidential powers to appoint judges should
be handed over to the Council of Justice, which will ensure the
independence of the judiciary. The package on local government bodies
suggests that the mayor of Yerevan should be elected, not appointed.

Dallakyan pointed out that if the proposal is accepted, the opposition
will be ready to cooperate with the coalition on constitutional
reforms.

The secretary of the Justice faction said that the referendum on
constitutional reforms could also be a referendum of confidence in the
ruling coalition and [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan.

Dallakyan said that the boycott of the parliament will continue
because very important demands of the Justice bloc have not been
fulfilled yet. Specifically, no referendum of confidence in the
Armenian president has been conducted and people who falsified the
presidential and parliamentary elections, as well as people who
committed violence against peaceful demonstrators on the night of 13
April have not been brought to book yet.

At the same time, he said that the faction will take part in
discussions on the draft laws of special importance to the country.
Among these issues, Dallakyan pointed out the constitutional reforms,
the Electoral Code and the draft law on returning deposits.

The secretary of the Justice faction also said that the bloc is
preparing to speed up its meetings with the population scheduled both
in districts and in the capital.

Only the Union of National Democrats voted against the decision to
cooperate with the coalition. The chairman of this party, Arshak
Sadoyan, said that the principles of forming power structures are
absolutely unacceptable and run counter to his party’s programme
theses.

“Today’s sitting of the faction showed that there is no point in
taking work seriously with such unstable approaches,” Sadoyan pointed
out. Having said that he will not quit the faction, he pointed out at
the same time that he is ready to cooperate with other parliamentary
forces, especially with the National Unity faction and the People’s
Deputy group, on some serious issues.