When responding to the second president of Armenia Robert Kocharyan's remarks, Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov has commented on what Kocharyan did not say, Kocharyan's spokesman Viktor Soghomonyan has told ArmInfo.
"It's a pity that Sharmazanov has failed to understand the core of Robert Kocharyan's words. The second president expressed fears that the constitutional reforms will result in formation of an evil system, which will constantly be retained. So, Sharmazanov has commented on what Kocharyan did not say," he notes.
To note, when commenting on Robert Kocharyan's interview saying that "amid the absolute lack of intra- party democracy in Armenia, patronage governance will become inevitable evil, a source of standstill and a tool of retention of the evil system for the years to come", Vice Speaker of Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov said, "My question is - who founded that evil system and how to get rid of it without conducting reforms?" At the same time, Sharmazanov said he understands Robert Kocharyan's negative attitude to the reforms. "No one wants to say goodbye to what he/she has created. It is typical to all people. Nevertheless, life is moving forward fast and we cannot go around in a circle, ignoring the reality," said Sharmazanov.
Meanwhile, in his latest interview Robert Kocharyan slams the ongoing constitutional reforms in Armenia. "Armenia needs no constitutional reforms, especially such radical ones," Robert Kocharyan says. "All the challenges and issues faced by the country can be well addressed within the framework of the current Constitution, whose functionality is not questioned. The new draft Constitution has exceeded all my worst expectations. The matter does not even concern a choice between the semi-presidential and parliamentary regimes. The draft Constitution may result in transition to a de facto single-party system, i.e. in a political monopoly and standstill. The Soviet Constitution contained a lot of nice words, however, the 6th article about the leading role of the Communist Party legalized the political monopoly of the communists. Everyone knows how the USSR ended up," says Kocharyan. He notes that the draft Constitution's nice wordings about the human rights and social objectives of the state are a camouflage for the totally unacceptable method of formation of the National Assembly. "Article 89 of the draft Constitution is to ensure the domineering of one party in the Parliament. It will be the party that has administrative and financial resources regardless of its popularity. Amid the absolute lack of intra-party democracy in Armenia, patronage governance will become inevitable evil, a source of standstill and a tool of retention of the evil system. As a matter of fact, the draft makes the political monopoly a constitutional standard," says Kocharyan, noting that he would not like Armenia to have such a future. Therefore, he comes out against the constitutional reforms. "A big mistake is being made and its consequences will be rather dangerous for the future of Armenia," he says.