«KOCHARYAN HAS PLENARY POWERS»
Support A1+!Chairman of Democracy public organization Vardan Poghosyan is convinced that to date the acting Constitution provides for plenary powers of the President.
In his words, our Constitution not only needs changes but is far from the constitutional models of democratic states. Today during the discussion of a draft of constitutional amendments Vardan Poghosyan touched upon concrete changes, which have been already submitted to the National Assembly factions. In Poghosyan's opinion, first of all the present semi-presidential system should be replaced. “For instance, the President should not be empowered to dissolve the government. Presently the President can dismiss the Prime Minister without taking into account the opinion of the NA. In case the NA does not agree with his decision he can dissolve it as well”, Vardan Poghosyan says.
According to Shavarsh Kocharyan, who was also present at the discussions, if the NA majority did not impede the works being carried out, the constitutional changes would become real. “The President’s authority is too wide; he even has the right to appoint the Mayor of Yerevan. If we want to become a democratic state we should have an appropriate Constitution”, he said.
