YEREVAN—The Commission on Armenia’s Constitutional Reforms, which is headed by President Serge Sarkisian, released the final version of the draft amendments to the constitution on Aug. 21. The draft amendments meet 90-95 percent of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF) expectations, ARF parliamentary faction secretary Aghvan Vardanyan told reporters on Aug. 24, when he
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What amendments? How about some real reporting?
I am surprised how ARF agrees with constitutional changes. There is no democracy without independent judiciary. There has been comprehensive studies in Hungary and Burma which showed the constitutional changes can be made when the authorities and the opposition can work together for a process of democratization. For this, one needs political will and a strong opposition.
Today, Armenia’s constitution is authority centered not human rights centered which is wrong. We also did not have experience in creating institutional systems. Normally, constitutional changes must be done during a constitutional crisis. What is the constitutional crisis in Armenia? What are the reasons that request changes in the constitution now?
Forgot to add: A new government will not be able to implement good democratic governance if the institutions don’t work and if there are not mechanisms of checks and balances.
Because the main political party has hundreds of million of dollars, it will not give up its dominant authority. Parliamentary government works when 1)there is a strong opposition party 2)there is regular change in institutions and parties and 3)political culture and political parties do not rely on the proper function of institutions. Therefore the UK parliamentary model will not work in Armenia where we don’t have checks and balances, mechanisms for government accountability and there is no strong opposition party. A new government will not be able to implement good democratic governance if the institutions don’t work and if there are not mechanisms of checks and balances.
Because the main political party has hundreds of million of dollars, it will not give up its dominant authority but will stregthen and consolidate its power through constitutional changes to guarantee the continutation of a totalitarian regime. For this is ARF in agreement 95%???
The 1st quarter century. When the fledgling new Republic came on the scene, word was democracy would evolve in a slow and steady pace. Why then can’t another revision to the constitution be laid out for all to see? Why must the proletariat be the last to know?
Constitutional changes by the illegitimate authorities who came to power through rigged elections and blood and now want to extend their power by all the means is very dangerous for the Armenian statehood and for the democracy. All the political parties who support the proposed referendum they actually support the maintenance of the criminal rule of Serj Sargsyan and the Republican Party of Armenia. Even those political parties, such as ARF, who generally support the parliamentary system of governance, should refrain from supporting the referendum at this time, knowing very well the major aim of so-called “constitutional reforms.” You may read more about the concerns of civil society organizations here http://transparency.am/en/news/view/995
This ‘report’ tells us next to nothing — it is mostly fluff, and informative only in the most rudimentary way. For example, readers would have benefited from learning which reforms (95%) ARF agrees with, and which reforms (5%) it disagrees with. But we receive nothing of substance. In fact, the only specific reforms mentioned are a) shifting to a parliamentary system of governance; and b) shifting to elections based upon proportional representation. For those who follow the news, none of this is new: ARF has been talking about these issues for several years now.
An informed debate on this matter is essential, if Armenia is to take real steps toward democracy. Unfortunately, journalism of the sort displayed here doesn’t help. We must do better.