Pashinyan seeks clear mechanisms of checks and balances in government system

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan argues that there is no need for fundamental amendments to the Constitution, however, several clauses of it are problematic. Pashinyan was speaking today at a campaigning rally of the My Step bloc, the political force led by him that is running for parliament.

He said that the bloc’s campaigning message doesn’t include amendments to the Constitution because changing it and changing the public administration system should be justified.

“Do you imagine changing the Constitution after each election? This Constitution has been adopted and is in force only for 7 months. Let’s let it function a bit. If we see that the parliamentary system of governance requires to be changed and again return to the presidential system, certainly we aren’t constrained in this matter. We will do it if the people will want it,” he said.

At the same time Pashinyan says several clauses in the Constitution must definitely be changed.

“For example, the Constitution says that only persons who have been solely citizens of Armenia in the past four years and who had permanent residency in Armenia can be Members of Parliament or Ministers. If in case of a Member of Parliament we consider this approach to be justified, in case of the executive power we think that this brings certain restrictions for involving the potential of the Diaspora in the government system of Armenia. We must think that even in case of a Member of Parliament we can consider to change it or not,” he said.

He said that serious steps must also be taken for introducing clear mechanisms of checks and balances in the administration system, however, according to him, this must be done in a way so that the vertical pyramid of the system doesn’t get breached and that it remains clear who is the leader of the country.

“It’s been said a lot, and I have said a lot that this Constitution is a super-prime ministerial Constitution, and we must certainly take very serious steps to have a clear mechanism of checks and balances in order for all [theoretical] possibilities of establishing dictatorships and authoritarianisms in our country get eliminated and restricted. But when going for this goal we must focus on another issue. It is very important not to breach the vertical pyramid of power, because the country must be controllable. In a state there can’t be a [scenario] where it is unclear who the leader of the country is. That is a potential crisis for the country and can always be the occasion for shocks. Indeed, this Constitution clearly says that the leader of the country is the prime minister, but I agree that there must be a checks and balances mechanism so that different branches of the government are able to supervise one another,” Pashinyan said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan