PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Center for National and International Studies
75 Yerznkian Street
Yerevan 375033, Armenia
Tel: (+374 – 1) 52.87.80 or 27.48.18
Fax: (+374 – 1) 52.48.46
E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
Website:
March 4, 2005
ACNIS Releases Public Opinion Results
on Constitutional and Election Code Reforms
Yerevan–The Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS)
today issued the results of a public poll on “Constitutional and Electoral
Reforms” which it conducted in February among 1500 citizens from Yerevan and
all of Armenia’s regions.
ACNIS founding director Raffi Hovannisian greeted the invited guests and
public participants with opening remarks. “I trust this first survey of the
year will provide a solid basis for interpreting and evaluating Armenian
public attitudes toward democratic values and for clarifying citizen
perceptions of key constitutional and electoral issues,” Hovannisian said.
ACNIS research coordinator Stepan Safarian focused in detail on the findings
of the opinion poll. Accordingly, a majority of surveyed citizens (70.7%) is
completely or partially familiar with the content of the Armenian
Constitution, while 29.3% are not familiar at all. 29.5% of those who are
more or less familiar with the provisions of the Constitution think that
whatever is written in it is not implemented at all, 46.5% believe it to be
partially implemented, and only 2.3% completely implemented, with 21.5%
finding it difficult to answer. 38.5% of participating citizens are of the
opinion that the Constitution needs reform, 10.4% feel the necessity for a
new Constitution, whereas 38.8% conclude that more important than reforms is
the systematic implementation of its existing provisions.
As for society’s expectations from the constitutional reforms, 37.1% of
citizens expect expansion of human rights and improvement of constitutional
guarantees for their protection, 3.9% the opposite, that is restriction of
human rights and freedoms, 14.4% clarification of relations among the
president, parliament, government, and judicial branch of power, 10.9%
limitation of the president’s prerogatives, 8.2% raising the role of the
National Assembly, 8.7% stipulation of mechanisms for the real independence
of judicial authority, 4.5% raising the self-sufficiency of local
government, and 7.2% fulfillment of Armenia’s commitments before the Council
of Europe. 26.2% have no expectations, and 9.7% find it difficult to answer.
11.6% of respondents prefer a presidential system of government, 7.7% a
parliamentary system, and 16.7% a semi-presidential one, whereas 51.7% think
what is most important is democracy. 5.6% of citizens opine that the prime
minister should be appointed by the president without the National Assembly’
s consent, 14.9% by the National Assembly without the president’s consent,
24.9% by the president with the National Assembly’s consent, and 20.9% by
the National Assembly with the president’s consent. As for the dissolution
of parliament, 13% of the respondents assert that the president should
retain the right to dissolve it and call new elections, 42.5% think it
should be dissolved only by referendum held by demand of a certain number of
voters, and 15.5% are generally against its dissolution. 25.1% of citizens
are convinced that courts will be just and impartial if judges are elected
by the people, 8.3% if the National Assembly appoints and dismisses judges,
and but 4% if the president appoints and dismisses them.
Among the surveyed public, 26.7% consider presidential elections to be most
important, 6.3% parliamentary polls, and 3.5% municipal elections, with
46.6% finding all of them to be equally significant. 17.9%, however, say
they have not taken part in the elections of recent years. 15% of these are
not interested in politics, 35.2% have abstained because of falsifications,
and 11.3% are convinced that no candidate deserved to be elected. 40.9% hold
that the results of the 2003 presidential elections raise the most doubts
from the point of view of their legitimacy, 24.8% cite the elections of
1996, and 22.2% those of 1998, while 33.6% maintain that they are equally
untrustworthy. A plurality (38.9%) of responding citizens asserts that the
most unfair parliamentary elections were held in 2003. As for local
elections, 4.7% think the 1996 results are the most suspect, 6.4% those of
1999, and 16.7% those of 2002.
As for the major factor influencing elections held in Armenia, 39.9%
pinpoint money, 36.8% pro-incumbent administrative levers, 6.9% the mass
media, 4.3% the candidate’s ideological and party belonging, and only 5.7%
the candidate’s personal characteristics. 51.4% of citizens believe that
elections will be freer and fairer if the army is deprived of the right to
vote. Nonetheless, there also are other ways of reducing election
falsifications. 21.4% think elections will not be falsified or will be
falsified in smaller measure if the election commissions represent equally
all the parties competing in the electoral process, 18.1% if commissions are
composed not of political party representatives but of neutral specialists,
18.8% if the commission head or certain members are appointed by
international observation missions, and 17.3% if the president does not
possess the prerogative to appoint commission members.
The second item on the day’s agenda was a presentation by Constitutional
Court Justice Felix Tokhian on “Securing Constitutional and Electoral Rights
in the Armenian Reality.” “The ideology of the current Constitution is
intended to ensure the country’s governability, but it should instead be
focused on citizens’ rights, that is the establishment of democratic
precepts,” he underscored.
An alternative conception on the constitutional and electoral code reforms
was presented by Grigor Ghonjeyan of the United Labor Party. He detailed the
controversial provisions of the reform draft proposed by his party,
referring particularly to the impermissibility of depriving people of
citizenship, the manner of alienating property, the role of the church, the
ban on dual citizenship, and the functions of the branches of power. “We
have been guided by the principle of making the human being the axis of the
Constitution,” he emphasized.
“To what extent have the suggestions of the Venice Commission been taken
into account?” Political scientist and constitutional lawyer Vardan
Poghosian reflected on the two drafts proposed by the governing coalition
and the United Labor Party, underlining the importance of clarifying the
president’s constitutional-legal status as well as the relations between
president and government, government and parliament. “The president should
not have the prerogative to dismiss the prime minister, as he is not the
head of the executive branch under the current system,” he said, adding that
the president’s authority should be limited to guaranteeing the country’s
defense capacity and national security. In his opinion, the constitutional
reforms should be based on the draft of 2001 approved by the Venice
Commission.
The formal interventions were followed by contributions by former Prime
Minister Khosrov Harutiunian of the Christian Democratic Party; former
presidential adviser Levon Zurabian; Ruben Torosian of the Human
Rights-Democracy Party; Noyan Tapan news agency political analyst Davit
Petrosian; Albert Baghdasarian of the National Democratic Union; Petros
Makeyan of Democratic Fatherland; lawyer Norair Yeghiazarian; and several
others.
47.2% of respondents participating in the ACNIS poll are male and 52.8%
female; 7.2% are 17-20 years of age, 24.8% 21-30, 23.1% 31-40, 22.8% 41-50,
14.2% 51-60, 7.1% 61-70, and 0.8% 71 or above. 44.4% of them have received a
higher education, 12.8% incomplete higher, 20.5% specialized secondary, 16%
secondary, and 2.3% incomplete secondary training. 58.3% are actively
employed and 23.9% unemployed, 5.2% are pensioners, 1.7% welfare recipients,
and 10.7% students. Urban residents constitute 61.9% of the citizens
surveyed, while rural residents make up 38.1%. 30.7% of all respondents hail
from Yerevan, and the rest are from outside the capital city.
Founded in 1994 by Armenia’s first Minister of Foreign Affairs Raffi K.
Hovannisian and supported by a global network of contributors, ACNIS serves
as a link between innovative scholarship and the public policy challenges
facing Armenia and the Armenian people in the post-Soviet world. It also
aspires to be a catalyst for creative, strategic thinking and a wider
understanding of the new global environment. In 2005, the Center focuses
primarily on civic education, conflict resolution, and applied research on
critical domestic and foreign policy issues for the state and the nation.
For further information on the Center or the full graphics of the poll
results, call (3741) 52-87-80 or 27-48-18; fax (3741) 52-48-46; e-mail
[email protected] or [email protected]; or visit or