THE PRESIDENT DECIDES NO MATTER WHAT
Support A1+!Parliamentary discussions on the law on “Referendums” are over and the bill will be put up for a vote tomorrow morning by the first reading.
However, the discussions were rather heated up. Independent deputy Victor Dallakyan recalled the fate of one referendum on which the Constitutional Court had made a decision to make changes to the law on “Referendums” in a year and hold a referendum on Kocharyan’s confidence. Unfortunately, the National Assembly turned into a barracks of bandits that attacked the people, who on April 12, 2004 demanded them to fulfill the decision of the Constitutional Court and hold a referendum of confidence.
Dallakyan brought up some issues on whether the Republic of Armenia has the right to hold a referendum in connection with the sovereign state. He proposed to radically change the situation by not reserving the president the right to pass the government’s decision to hold a referendum because he already has the right to put a veto on the government’s decisions.
Head of the “Heritage” faction Armen Martirosyan proposed to organize a petition and give people the right to hold a referendum.
“Prosperous Armenia” party member Naira Zohrabyan called the speeches connecting the bill with the Karabakh conflict absurd and wondered why the people shouldn’t know what the government thinks.
The fact of the matter is that it makes no difference,” this is what Republican Galust Sahakyan had to say and added: “Who said that the people will decide, for example, the Karabakh conflict? The president will be the one to decide.”
“This is an attempt to put responsibility on the people’s shoulders,” says “Heritage” deputy Zaruhi Postanjyan who believes that the bill is ordered by Serzh Sargsyan. Postanjyan also underscored that the administration that falsified the elections can easily falsify the results of the referendum.
ARF deputy Artsvik Minasyan agreed with the opposition. “If we make a decision by referendum, form public opinion and if that opinion is not legal, it becomes nonsensical to debate the issue in the Constitutional Court as well.”
In order to not underestimate the referendum institution, Artsvik Minasyan proposed that such important issues be discussed as part of different bills, particularly the passing of a new law on Karabakh.
The Republican and “Prosperous Armenia” parties will vote for the bill, “Heritage” will vote against it and the others still have time to decide. “Rule of Law” remained neutral during the discussion.
