Monday,
Pashinian Wants New President In Sync With Armenian Government
Armenia - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian chairs a virtual summit of the
Collective Security Treaty Organization, Yerevan, January 10, 2022.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Monday that Armenia’s parliament
controlled by his Civil Contract party should elect a new president of the
republic who will be in sync with his administration.
The number one position in the state hierarchy became effectively vacant after
President Armen Sarkissian announced his resignation in a written statement
issued late on Sunday. He complained that his largely ceremonial powers prevent
him from influencing political and economic developments in the country.
Pashinian said that Sarkissian phoned him and informed him about the surprise
decision just a few hours before announcing it. He said he “took note” of it and
will not comment on the reason for the resignation given by the head of state.
Civil Contract controls 71 of the 107 seats in the National Assembly, putting it
in a position to install the next president.
Pashinian said that he and his political team have not yet discussed potential
candidates for the job. He indicated that they will pick a figure loyal to them.
“I think that we must go for a solution that will ensure political harmony
between the president, the government and the parliament majority, especially
now that we are faced with very serious challenges,” he told a virtual news
conference aired by Armenian Public Television.
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and President Armen Sarkissian meet in
Yerevan, October 1, 2021.
Pashinian said there was a lack of such harmony about a year ago when the
Armenian army top brass demanded his resignation, deepening a political crisis
resulting from Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. He seemed
to refer to Sarkissian’s reluctance to quickly rubber-stamp his decision to fire
the country’s top general.
Sarkissian, 68, has otherwise rarely challenged or opposed government policies
during his nearly four-year tenure. He has repeatedly called for major
amendments to the Armenian constitution which gives the president very few
powers.
Pashinian reiterated on Monday that despite forming a commission tasked with
drafting constitutional amendments he believes that Armenia should remain a
parliamentary republic.
“I think we must keep the parliamentary system of government,” he said.
New Armenian Human Rights Defender Elected
• Artak Khulian
Armenia - Kristine Grigorian addresses the National Assembly shorly before being
elected Armenia's new human rights defender, Yerevan, .
The Armenian parliament voted to appoint on Monday a senior government official
as the country’s new human rights defender.
Kristine Grigorian will formally take over as ombudswoman on February 24.
Grigorian served as a deputy justice minister justice until January 20. She had
held other senior positions in the Armenian Ministry of Justice from 2015-2018.
The 40-year-old lawyer was nominated for the post by Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian’s Civil Contract party. She was backed by 68 members of the 107-seat
National Assembly.
Both parliamentary opposition forces rejected Grigorian’s candidacy and decided
to boycott the secret ballot.
Grigorian skirted most questions asked by opposition lawmakers during a debate
that preceded the vote. She essentially avoided criticizing or questioning
government policies relating to human rights. She also refused to echo
opposition claims that there are political prisoners in Armenia.
Speaking shortly before Monday’s vote, opposition deputies deplored what they
described as Grigorian’s pro-government stance.
“You are being given a mandate to defend Nikol Pashinian’s regime, rather than
human rights,” Anna Mkrtchian of the opposition Pativ Unem bloc told the
incoming ombudswoman.
Civil Contract deputies rejected the criticism and defended Grigorian. One of
them also hit out at Armenia’s outgoing ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, who has been
increasingly critical of Pashinian’s administration.
Armenia - The human rights ombudsman, Arman Tatoyan, at a news conference in
Yerevan, July 13, 2021.
In particular, Tatoyan has denounced Armenian troop withdrawals ordered by
Pashinian following the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and accused the authorities
of undermining judicial independence and bullying opposition groups that
defeated the ruling party in recent local elections.
Tatoyan also repeatedly criticized Pashinian’s fiery rhetoric during campaigning
for snap parliamentary elections held last June. The prime minister pledged to
“purge” the state bureaucracy and wage “political vendettas” against local
government officials supporting the opposition.
A senior Pashinian administration official responded late last year by accusing
Tatoyan of engaging in “counterrevolutionary” activities in support of
opposition forces.
Speaking in the parliament on Friday, Grigorian said that the office of the
human rights defender “must not be perceived as a body alienated from the state
and fighting against the state.” She said that if elected she will strive to
“correct these misconceptions.”
Armenian Lawmakers Unimpressed By President’s Resignation
• Naira Nalbandian
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - The presidential palace in Yerevan.
In a rare convergence of views, pro-government and opposition members of
Armenia’s parliament on Monday dismissed the main stated reason for President
Armen Sarkissian’s resignation and criticized his track record.
Sarkissian announced his unexpected decision to step down late on Sunday. He
attributed it to his lack of constitutional powers.
Lawmakers representing the ruling Civil Contract party and the opposition
minority in the National Assembly countered that Sarkissian was well aware of
the largely ceremonial powers vested in the presidency when he agreed to become
president in early 2018.
“Didn’t he know the limits of his prerogatives when he was elected president?”
said Civil Contract’s Khachatur Sukiasian. “He must have familiarized himself
with the constitution before taking office.”
Sukiasian, who is also a wealthy businessman, went on to question Sarkissian’s
patriotism and attachment to Armenia.
“If an Armenian keeps 90 percent of their capital in a foreign country I can’t
help but wonder to what extent he trusts and loves the Republic of Armenia,” he
said, referring to a fortune made by Sarkissian in Britain.
Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian (R) and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian
attend a conference in Dilijan, June 8, 2019.
Sarkissian, 68, had lived and worked in London for nearly three decades. Former
President Serzh Sarkisian offered him to become the head of state as Armenia
completed its transition to a parliamentary system of government. The country’s
former parliament controlled by Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) elected
the new president for a seven-year term in March 2018.
Hayk Mamijanian, an opposition lawmaker affiliated with the HHK, charged that
Sarkissian has not performed his duties properly since then.
“He has sung the same song for four years,” Mamijanian told reporters. “Taking
about the same things -- powers, powers, powers -- for four years is not
comprehensible for me.”
Serzh Sarkisian’s political allies have been particularly critical of the
current president. They have claimed that he is afraid of pushing back against
what they see as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s authoritarian tendencies.
Under Armenian constitution, parliament speaker Alen Simonian will take over as
interim president if Sarkissian does not withdraw his resignation within a week.
In that case, the National Assembly will have to elect a new head of state
within the next 35 days.
To become president in the first round of voting a candidate has to be backed by
at least 81 members of the 107-seat parliament. The legal threshold is set at 65
votes for the second round.
Pashinian’s Civil Contract controls 71 parliament seats, putting it in a
position to install the new president. The ruling party has not yet indicated
who could be its presidential candidate.
The two opposition factions in the National Assembly also did not say on Monday
whether they will field a candidate.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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