Constitution of any country reflects and determines its vital functions,
as all the other legislative acts are based on the Basic Law. Consequently, if
there are any gaps in the legislative regulation of issues, there is need for
constitutional reform. Hovhanness Sahakyan, Head of the Armenian National
Assembly Committee for State and Legal Affairs, made such statement talking to
ArmInfo.
"One should not deny that many problems are
subjective and have no legislative reasons. It does not mean, however, that
there is no need for constitutional reform. Yet in the Middle Ages, the
Armenian people were guided by the studies on jurisprudence by Mkhitar Gosh and
other thinkers of the time. In the 21st century, we cannot but have a perfect
Constitution that gives no reason for subjective interpretation of its
norms," he said.
Speaking of the logic of the Constitutional reform, he
said in 1995 when the bases of the Armenian statehood were being established,
the Constitutions exactly defined the forms of the state government institutes.
At the constitutional reform of 2005, when the issues of statehood
establishment were not longer relevant, the emphasis was put on the human
rights and freedoms. As for the upcoming constitutional reform, it looks to
establish specific constitutional guarantees for exercise of these rights and
freedoms.
Asked about the change of the government system from
the semi-presidential into parliamentary one, Sahakyan said that he is for a
strong presidential form of government. "In conditions of the unresolved
Karabakh conflict, the strong presidential system of government is the optimal
choice for Armenia, because specific persons must be responsible for specific
decisions. It is my personal point of view," he said.
To recall, the President initiated a project of
constitutional reforms that feature transition to the parliamentary system of
government in Armenia. The document, particularly, calls to expand the
parliament's supervisory powers, authorize the legislative body to elect the
president for a 7-year term. Sargsyan
assures he does not seek the prime minister's post.
On July 5 Armenia celebrates
the Constitution Day. The Constitution was adopted in 1995. On 27 November
2005, the document underwent certain amendments under president Robert
Kocharyan.