YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 22, ARMENPRESS. Chairman of the Parliament of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic Ashot Ghoulyan says for the state that lives in conditions of unrecognized status and undeclared war, much depends on effectively functioning public administration system, that requires periodic updates.

He said in case of Karabakh it can be done only through constitutional regulations.

Ashot Ghoulyan gave an interview to “Armenpress” over the necessity, reasons of the constitutional reforms and the proposed major changes in the NKR.

-Mr. Ghoulyan, the specialized commission of constitutional reforms under the NKR President published the draft Constitution. What is the necessity to change the Constitution at this stage, what are the reasons for that?

-The idea of conducting constitutional changes is not new in Nagorno Karabakh. It is another issue that the topic has been discussed widely within the political parties.

When the process of constitutional reforms was launched in the Republic of Armenia in 2013, the discussions on this topic were postponed for a certain period in the NKR with very normal and understandable reasons. We were following at what direction that process would move forward in the Motherland and what developments it can hint to the NKR to initiate such work in the country.

Like every society, we as well start to speak more about constitutional reforms when the searches for raising the quality of public life become leading in the public opinion.

For the country, which lives in unrecognized status and undeclared war, much depends on the effectively functioning public administration system, which requires regular updates. In our case, all these can be done only through constitutional regulations.

Another important motive is the security environment, which, in case, is directly linked to the country’s governance model and capacities to mobilize the resources, to values and ideological basis, from which the country’s population will is formed to reach the international recognition of the declared independence.

These are the major two directions from which the scope of issues were formed that serve the basis of the constitutional reforms.  

-What are the major goals to change the Constitution, what issues will be solved according to the proposed changes of the new draft Constitution? Please, specify several fundamental approaches that underline the new Constitution.

-The goals on changing the Constitution, improving the constitutional regulations derive from the grounds that we have already talked about. If we need to improve the public administration system, to clarify the powers of our state institutions that form the security system, if we need to define more modern settings for fundamental rights and freedoms of person and citizen, stand in front of the judiciary, strengthening the autonomy and independence of local self-government system and our goal to build a society free of internal turmoil, I think, these basis already hint what issues will be solved under the new Constitution.

In this regard, perhaps not coincidentally, the choice of the specialized commission is in favor of strong and centralized government system which the NKR people see in the presidential model.

Nevertheless, it is very important to maintain the balance between the branches of power by the constitutional reforms in the country.

-Mr. Ghoulyan, the draft Constitution proposes a shift from semi-presidential system to presidential system. What is the reason of such decision, whether it means that the semi-presidential system was not effective and was not justified?

-Here we must take into account the period during which we are carrying out the constitutional reforms. Due to today’s military-political realities, the idea of having a centralized government system is leading among our society, and it proves that the time factor is not secondary concerning this kind of issues.

Today time is working in favor of concrete and sustainable government systems which suppose a shift to parliamentary or presidential systems.

-Unlike the classic presidential governance model, the new draft Constitution of the NKR enshrines the President’s political accountability before the Parliament. Usually, the President bears political accountability before the Parliament in the parliamentary system. What is the reason that it was decided to make a shift to such government model?

-In the parliamentary system, the President sometimes takes the role of arbiter on keeping the balance between the branches of power. By giving a preference to the presidential system, we have included the issue into the agenda what mechanisms and checks and balances there are going to be in order not to violate the balance of the branches of power.

In the draft Constitution the proposed solutions even somehow are beyond the regulations typical of the presidential model, by involving interesting components from other government systems.

The draft proposes to hold the elections of the President and the Parliament the same day of the same year. Unlike the classic presidential model, the draft proposes that the Parliament can express distrust towards the President, and the President can dissolve the Parliament.

-Are there any new provisions related to the human rights protection, freedom of speech and fundamental freedoms in the draft Constitution? If yes, what are the proposed changes on strengthening the democratic principles in the country?

-The new draft Basic Law is known for numerous changes and amendments, and even the slight comparison makes obvious that differences. The current Constitution is comprised of 12 chapters and 142 articles, whereas in the new one, the number of chapters is the same, but that of the articles has been added by 31. Among those three dozen new articles, the 20 are exclusively about fundamental human and civil rights and freedoms.

Such articles are aimed at complementing the series of constitutional regulations designed to ensure the normal functioning of the democratic system and the human rights protection.   

-When the discussions on the draft Constitution will be over and what times it will be put to a referendum?

-The discussions on the draft Constitution are comprised of several stages. At this stage we are completing the public discussions, and then the revised version of the draft will be submitted to the President. Most likely, the President will propose additional discussion format for the political and public circles. At the next stage, the draft Constitution will be sent to the Parliament, and probably, until the end of this year, the draft discussions will be held in the Parliament.

I think  in January, 2017 we will know when the Constitutional referendum will be held.

Interview by Shant Klghatyan