CONSTITUTION – GUARANTEE FOR PROGRESS
Harutyun Gevorgyan
Hayots Ashkharh Daily – Armenia
06 July 07
Interview with the member of RPA council and parliamentary faction
Armen Ashotyan.
"Mr. Ashotyan 12 years back, on July 5 Armenia having regained its
independence had its own Constitution. On November 27 2005 amendments
were made in the Constitution through referendum. What legal, political
and social significance has the Principle Law of the country got in
the context of the present day developments?"
" The constitutions of all the countries tend to express the political
ratio an balance of the present and the near future. We can state
with confidence that our Constitution tends to the future and the
referendum of November 27, 2005, on the amendments to the Constitution
was aimed at regulating and guiding the future developments.
The Constitution clearly demarcates individual – society – state
relations, provides mechanisms of counterbalance among the wings
of the authorities, creates legal foundations to set up legislative
domain and emphasizes what kind of society we should have in future."
"Our opposition used to be against constitutional amendments. Is it
a result of shortsightedness or tendencies of personal-benefit?"
"The Constitutional referendum of November 27, 2005, was the "Rubicon"
which the pro-opposition powers of that time didn’t manage to cross
and lost the opportunity of providing their reproduction.
The thing is, even in 2002 the necessity of constitutional amendments
was evident. And it was conditioned not only by the commitments to
PACE, but also internal social-political demands.
If we evaluate the political developments of that time we will see
that the parliamentary opposition failed to perceive the logic of the
political developments and lost their exclusive chance to dictate their
spirit and idea to the political domain of that time. The illogical
"no" of the opposition contradicted the unavoidable international
and social political process.
At present it is more than evident that the constitutional amendments
are a success. It is an indisputable fact that even the most radical
opposition enjoys the freedom and rights provided by the same
amendments in the constitution. Many times they themselves have
unintentionally mentioned that the separation of powers and the
counterbalance system is a present day reality that the domain of
competences of the legislative-representative body that is to say the
parliament has been extended. This is the most evident index, which
shows that constitutional amendments contributed to the development
of political and civil system."
"To what extend does the amended Constitution stipulate the formation
of the civil society in our country?"
"I strongly believe all the social-political developments during the
forthcoming 5-8 years will be first of all conditioned by the amended
Constitution. I consider it necessary to underscore the fact that
the Constitutional Court has the jurisdiction to influence political
processes and to decide whether the results of the civil society’s
votes are valid or not.
Though it is difficult to state whether the Constitution is completely
accomplished in our reality or not, we should be well conscious that
if we want to perceive the value of the Constitution we should have
civil-society.
As regards this I should underscore that today our civilians have
the right to appeal to the Constitutional Court.
Meanwhile it is not right to say that we managed to solve all the
problems due to Constitutional amendments only, as transitional stages
and clear schedules for the realization of the pre-determined programs
are envisaged.
It is not a secret that we should still learn to think, work and act
based on the logic of the Constitution in all conditions. It is a
very difficult task for some bureaucrats. The problem is they are
accustomed to what is obliged by the superior and not the law and
they are the principal obstacles to the amendments.