Minister compared it to tooth pain
"Snap parliamentary elections are illegitimate," this is what RA Minister of Justice Hrair Tovmasyan said today in response to the Armenian National Congress's demand for snap elections. Tovmasyan also advised seeing to what extent the demand emanates from the Constitution before presenting that demand.
"Before the 2005 constitutional reforms, at any moment the president could disband the National Assembly, which was a person-centered or highly centralized political system. The constitutional reforms clearly defined that that was impossible," said Tovmasyan.
According to Tovmasyan, there are not even any social, political and economic motives.
The minister received many questions regarding the flawed court system, and in response, he noted that the society also plays an important role.
"Eighty-four percent of Armenian society is ready to solve an illegitimate case through bribes. Unfortunately, 63 percent of them are ready to take the same path for solving cases legitimately," said Tovmasyan.
Nevertheless, the minister rated the constitutional reforms related to the court system as satisfactory.
"The Constitution guarantees the independence of courts from the legislative and executive branches of government. It is not up to the Constitution to instill the perception of judicial power and justice in each judge. This is where the society comes into play," said Tovmasyan.
Hrair Tovmasyan also talked about political prisoners, comparing their release to a sharp tooth pain-you can get rid of the pain, but that doesn't mean that the organism doesn't have any more problems.
The meeting with the minister was organized by "Civilitas" Foundation.
