Immediate restoration of the semi-presidential governance model must be the primary objective of the constitutional amendments. This is stated in the statement issued by the Armenian National Congress political party.
The statement reads as follows:
“On December 30, 2019, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan adopted a decision on the creation of a commission to prepare for constitutional amendments. The decision envisages developing the package of constitutional amendments in accordance with the 2019-2023 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms approved by the Government of Armenia on October 10, 2019. In this regard, the Congress deems it necessary to state the following:
1. The existing Constitution was developed for the purpose of eternalizing the power of the former regime and its head, was “adopted” through the falsification of 500,000 votes, but based on the real results of the vote, it was rejected by the prevailing majority of the citizens of Armenia; thus, it is illegitimate, and what happened dealt a serious blow to the foundations of Armenian statehood.
2. It is important to state that the parliamentary governance model wasn’t actually accepted by the people of Armenia. It has led to political crises in several democratic countries, and in the long run, it will lead to constant political crises in Armenia as well.
3. Consequently, immediate restoration of the semi-presidential governance model must be the primary objective of the constitutional amendments. This will ensure political stability, security and the potential for reforms in the political and economic systems of the country.
4. However, judging from the government’s Strategy, the proposed package of constitutional amendments will help solve tactical, not strategic issues, particularly with regard to overcoming the crisis in the Constitutional Court.
5. No matter how important the solution to the aforementioned issues is important, if the proposed package of constitutional amendments is only restricted to the correction of the flaws of the constitutional governance model, it will overlook the several issues caused by the referendum that was falsified in 2015.
6. The creation of the commission for constitutional amendments had to be preceded by large-scale public consultations and deliberations with the participation of political parties and non-governmental organizations, and these consultations and deliberations had to lead to the creation of a concept paper on constitutional amendments, and most importantly, approaches to the informed and lawful adoption of a governance model by the public.”
