Gagik Minasyan, member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) does not share the opinion of the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan, who said that the constitutional reforms will centralize the power in the hands of one party.
At a press conference in Yerevan, Minasyan said that it is Article 89 that enables the small political forces to consolidate and form the majority. "In addition, the draft reforms make it possible to change the power without any turmoil. This is also a serious advantage," the RPA member said. He added that there are several provisions, whose wordings need to be clarified. However, Minasyan did not specify which provisions he meant.
He thinks that the "No!" Front will be unable to fail the constitutional referendum or turn in into a process of expression of public non-confidence in the authorities. "The public realizes that it is a shady undertaking. So, it will not resort to such a step," he said, noting that following the referendum the authorities will raise the level of democracy in the country.
To recall, Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, said in an interview with DW that the new draft constitution provides one party with parliamentary majority, thereby forcing out the essence of parliamentarism. "The advantage of a parliamentary republic is that it ensures multi-party system in the legislative body. The constitutional reforms are supposed to decentralize the centralized presidential power, but it will not be decentralization. In the reality, the reforms will centralize the power in the hands of
one party", Kocharyan said.
To note, the matter concerns the provision, under which the parliamentary elections are to be held in two rounds. The second round will involve two political forces, which obtain the biggest number of votes in the first round, to determine the absolute parliamentary majority. This provision has been criticized by most of the political forces of the country.