Lragir, Armenia
Jan 11 2008
WHAT TER-PETROSYAN WILL CHANGE AND WHAT WILL NOT CHANGE AFTER
BECOMING PRESIDENT
During the news conference on January 11 which was the first since
the silence of the first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he touched
upon his possible actions after he becomes president. In particular,
the reporters wanted to know what he will do with the parliament
majority which is opposite to him, and considerable powers are vested
in it. Ter-Petrosyan said there are major problems with this but he
thinks they can be solved.
`We must be able to work with the majority. I explained that although
the parliament does not reflect the correlation of the society and
the political forces, we have to work with this parliament. I am sure
no complications will occur. A government will be formed fluently, a
prime minister will be appointed, afterwards the government program
based on the principles of my program will be presented which I think
is a serious program,’ Levon Ter-Petrosyan says. According to him,
what he released after the holidays is not the full pre-election
program. He says the complete program is all his addresses after
September 21 in which he dwelled on the points of his program.
Levon Ter-Petrosyan will not replace the low-ranking officials if he
is elected. At least, he says the low-ranking officials are good
specialists. Besides, the first president notes that the public
heritage should be maintained, and one of the important components of
this heritage is the bureaucracy. Levon Ter-Petrosyan considers them
as his supporters, saying that in reality they can see how their
corrupt bosses live, and how they live. These people are as tired of
corruption as we because they experience it, Levon Ter-Petrosyan
says, emphasizing that it takes political will but legal methods to
fight corruption. The law-enforcement agencies should deal with it
but their leaderships are also corrupt, says the first president.
Therefore, the top government officials must account to the court of
law. If a minister started to own a business, a mine, or any other
branch of economy, he must be responsible. If Ter-Petrosyan becomes
president, the same awaits those officials who were involved in
unlawful deals for businessmen, enabled them to acquire property
illegally. However, the businessmen whom the government helped obtain
property illegally will not lose their property, Levon Ter-Petrosyan
says, noting that it is the competence of the judiciary.
He says the people who are responsible for this system must get a
corresponding evaluation, first political, then legal, after
Ter-Petrosyan comes to power.
Ter-Petrosyan’s government, in fact, does not threaten with economic
redistribution or amendments to the Constitution. The first president
says the Constitution cannot be changed every time, it should be like
the Holy Bible for the state and for the people. With this mindset,
the first president says if he comes to power, returns to politics
with this Constitution, he will follow this Constitution, despite his
attitude. By the way, the first president says in 2005 there were
positive changes but on the whole the amended Constitution has more
gaps compared with the Constitution of 1995 and is not as systemic as
the Constitution of 1995, which means that in case of crisis we will
feel these gaps which, according to Levon Ter-Petrosyan, are found in
the amended Constitution.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress