ARMENIAN OPPOSITION MAY SUPPORT CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES – MP

Mediamax news agency

24 Aug 05

Yerevan, 24 August: The [opposition] Justice bloc believes that the
updated package of constitutional changes proposed by the ruling
Armenian coalition “is incomplete and does not meet the opposition’s
demands”, [MP] Shavarsh Kocharyan, a member of the parliamentary
faction of the Justice bloc, said in Yerevan today.

But it does not mean that the Justice bloc has already made a final
decision to say no to the constitutional changes, Kocharyan said. He
made it clear that the opposition may support the draft constitution
if the authorities meet some of the demands of the bloc.

Kocharyan called for the punishment of those responsible for
irregularities in the presidential and parliamentary elections in
2003 and urged criminal proceedings into those irregularities. He
described Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan, who headed the campaign
headquarters of [Armenian President] Robert Kocharyan during the
presidential election, as “the main falsifier of the election”.

Shavarsh Kocharyan also said that it is necessary to update the lists
of voters and ensure the independence of the media, specifically to
resume the broadcasts of the A1+ TV channel ahead of the constitutional
referendum in late November. The opposition also suggests ensuring by
the same time the balance in the compositions of electoral commissions,
in which the opposition has no decisive votes, he said.

The president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe,
Rene van der Linden, who recently visited Armenia as part of his tour
of the South Caucasus region, backs the opposition on these issues,
Kocharyan said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress