Vahan Hovannisyan advises prime minister of Armenia not to frighten
community by international experts
arminfo
Saturday, March 3, 18:28
The prime minister of Armenia should not frighten us by international
experts, the head of the ARF Dashnaktiutyun parliamentary faction,
Vahan Hovannisyan, said over today’s briefing in the parliament when
commenting on the fact that Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said that
the bill “On legal regime of the state of emergency” was discussed
with international experts which positively assessed it.
“We understand that when the debates were held on transition to the
100% proportional electoral system, the authorities of Armenia were
referring to the samples and experience of other countries and trying
to prove that the system offered by us is dangerous. But the point is
that international experts, deputies and politicians do not know what
takes place in our country during the elections. There are not aware
of the rules reigning here. For instance, I cannot explain a Swiss
deputy what is a principle of “merry-go-round” voting at the
elections, as he simply cannot understand it”, – Hovannisyan said.
He also added that very often representatives of European structures,
when giving their assessment to legislative changes in Armenia, cannot
be aware of consequences of these changes, for this reason, they
positively assess them. “But as I am aware, I am against this bill. At
the same time, I don’t think that the bill “On legal regime of the
state of emergency” would be acceptable by the international experts.
Certainly, I cannot cast doubt upon the words of the prime minister,
but at the same time I can present viewpoints of other experts which
are very much professional. So, one should not frighten us by
international experts”, – Hovannisyan concluded.
To recall, parliament of Armenia passed the first reading of the Bill
On the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency by 67 votes “for”, 1
vote “against” and 25 abstentions on March 1. The Bill stipulates
that the state of emergency in the republic may be introduced only in
case of circumstances, which are directly dangerous for the
Constitutional regime of Armenia, or in case of an attempt to change
by force or overthrow the constitutional regime or the power. The bill
allows involvement of army into “liquidation of consequences of the
state of emergency”.