Parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan on Tuesday spoke out against the idea of restoring a presidential system of government in Armenia which has been floated by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian’s political party.
In a weekend statement, the Armenian National Congress (HAK) called for a referendum on reverting to the “semi-presidential” system which gave sweeping executive powers to the president of the republic. It said the referendum should be held by February 2020 and followed by the conduct of a presidential election within a year.
“I don’t support a return to the semi-presidential system at all,” Mirzoyan said, commenting on the idea. “I think that we should keep moving forward. We now have a parliamentary system and must do everything to make it a success.”
“Constitutional changes are possible, but they must not be so radical -- and this is my personal opinion -- that they will switch the country from the parliamentary to the semi-presidential model,” he told reporters. In particular, he said, they could give more powers to the current, largely ceremonial president of the republic.
Mirzoyan is a leading member of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance, which has not yet officially reacted to the HAK proposal. Another senior My Step figure, Lena Nazarian, said on Monday that the authorities are ready to discuss it.
Armenia became a parliamentary republic as a result of a controversial constitutional reform in 2015 which was initiated by then President Serzh Sarkisian. The transformation was widely believed to be aimed at enabling him to extend his decade-long rule. Sarkisian provoked mass protests and resigned in April 2018 after attempting to hold on to power.
The HAK’s idea has been rejected out of hand by Bright Armenia (LHK), one of the two opposition parties represented in the current Armenian parliament. Its leader, Edmon Marukian, said on Tuesday the parliament should on the contrary be given more levers to hold the government in check.
Marukian announced in that regard that the LHK will propose constitutional changes that would give more rights to the opposition minority in the National Assembly.