Mr. President, we would like to know your attitude towards the project of constitutional amendments. Formerly you’ve expressed your opinion on this occasion, but now the updated completed and final text of the Main Law is published and adopted by the National Assembly. How do you estimate it? And what will the proposed change give to our country. My opinion has not changed: there is no need for any constitutional amendments. Moreover, this kind of change with radical nature. All problems and challenges facing to country are completely solvable within the framework of the constitution, the functionality of which no one questions. The published project exceeded my worst expectations. It’s not already about the choice between semi-presidential and parliamentary forms of state management. The project of the constitution contains essential risks that the country will roll into a de facto, one-party system, and so to the political monopoly and stagnation. The Soviet Constitution was full of nice words, but Article 6 about leading and guiding role of the CPSU was legalizing the Communist Party’s political monopoly. What happened with the Soviet Union as a result is known by everyone. It seems the saturation of the Constitution’s project with common beautiful phrases about human rights and state social objectives has an aim to disguise totally unacceptable way of the formation of the National Assembly, which makes senseless the main essence of parliamentary system. Article 89 of the project is to ensure the dominance of a single party in parliament, in authority. In our reality, regardless its popularity, it will be the party that possesses the administrative and financial resources. Taking into account the lack of even small internal democracy in Armenia, the sponsorship management will become unavoidable and permanent evil, a source of stagnation and a reproduction tool of a vicious system. In fact, the proposed project makes the political monopoly as a constitutional norm. I do not want such future for my country, that’s why I am definitely against these amendments. A big mistake is being made, the consequences of which are extremely dangerous for the future of Armenia.
