BHK will not submit its proposals on constitutional reform concept
Political parties in Armenia are to submit until May 5 their proposals on the concept of constitutional reform that seeks to turn Armenia into a parliamentary republic. To this point, only the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun has submitted its proposal to the specialized commission. Vahan Babayan, a spokesman for the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), explains why his party has not submitted its proposals. “The Party has said repeatedly that we find the transition to a parliamentary system of governance risky at the moment, given the current political situation in Armenia, the concerns about the country’s external and internal security, the problem of Karabakh. Of course the model of a parliamentary republic is included in our program but only after addressing external and internal problems. I repeat once again that the transition can cause serious problems in the country at this moment. Therefore, we are not going to present our proposals on the constitutional amendments. They said the Commission on Constitutional Reform was to work on the second version as well and address the existing concerns, particularly those relating the independence of the judicial system, by improving and reforming the current semi-presidential system. If the commission proposes its approaches on this version, we shall surely discuss them. But the commission has not made any proposals yet. Therefore, BHK’s opinion on the transition to the parliamentary system of governance remains the same. We are against the transition.” In March 2015, Serzh Sargsyan formally endorsed the concept of constitutional amendments submitted by the special commission on constitutional reforms. According to the proposed amendments, Armenia will turn from the current semi-presidential into a parliamentary republic. Under the president’s decision, the special commission will organize discussions with political parties regarding the implementation of the approaches stipulated in the concept of the constitutional reforms and will sum up the comments and suggestions of the parties.
