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    Categories: 2021

Robert Kocharyan: Armenia’s prime minister should not have so many powers

Panorama, Armenia
June 1 2021

Second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, the leader of the Armenia bloc running in the upcoming snap parliamentary elections, deplored the parliamentary system of government as an ineffective model for Armenia in an interview to the Russian RBC TV channel on May 29.

"I have also publicly spoken out against the current Constitution. I do not think that the parliamentary system of government is an effective model for Armenia," he told RBC’s Ilya Doronov.

The ex-president touched upon the most pressing issues of Armenia's domestic, foreign policies and geopolitics during the interview.

Kocharyan underlined that no president of Armenia has had as much authority as the current head of government under the Constitution.

"This is inadmissible. In a country where the party system is not established, the parties do not have sufficient high rating to assume a dominant role in the parliament, it is inappropriate to talk about a parliamentary system of government. I believe it was a wrong step. I think we need to take half a step or one step back. The prime minister of Armenia should not have so many powers," said Kocharyan, emphasizing that no counterbalancing mechanisms are in place.

The former president of Armenia stressed the need to revise the system, adding the issue should be discussed with other political forces.

RBC has released the video of the full interview on its official YouTube channel.

Garo Vardanian: