Serzh Sargsyan has his own calculations (video)
The authorities are going to falsify December 6 constitutional referendum. HAK MP Aram Manukyan highlights the possibility to vote with ID cards as proof of the aforesaid. “In this version, by which 500000 citizens have a chance to vote with ID cards and a passport, and therefore there is a chance to vote for the second, third, tenth time.” It is not the only concern raised during the public discussion over the new draft Constitution. The participants of the discussion are also concerned with the fact, that their concerns are ignored by the authorities. Human rights defender Artur Sakunts notes: “We have many questions, inquiries, but we don’t have any answers. The process of adopting the Constitution has an interesting regularity- the variant of broken telephone, when you are raising issues and the listener should answer, but he is not answering.” Advocate Anahit Chilingaryan adds, “It is evident, that making 250 changes and forcing the citizens to make a choice over the draft in this short period doesn’t comply with the principles of democracy and participation.” The history of the third Republic of Armenia has shown that every president adapts the Constitution to his political interests. Serzh Sargsyan also has his own calculations. “The shift from the semi-presidential system of government to the parliamentary system intends to strengthen not only the authority of one person, but already the authority of the ruling elite and there is a danger,” says Varuzhan Hoktanyan, Executive Director of “Transparency International” Anticorruption Center. In case of adopting new draft Constitution, Armenia will be the only state in the world, where the provision on one-party government will be fixed by the Constitution. By the way, the invitation to participate in the public discussion organized by “Open societies” foundation was once again refused by the officials.
