President Armen Sarkissian highlights constitutional settlement for ongoing political crisis
The current situation in Armenia has only one option for settlement – within the framework of the Constitution. There are no other, and cannot be any other ways, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian said in an interview to ONT – All-National Television of Belarus.
“All of us must respect the Constitution. And the Constitution clearly says – there is only one high level – the parliament – where the country’s Prime Minister must be elected. Not on the streets, not during rallies or in any other building, all disagreements must be settled in the parliament building. Whoever gets elected Prime Minister, I, as head of state, will sign the order on appointing the given person as Prime Minister, if of course no violations of constitution happen in the election process,” the Armenian President said.
In response to the journalist’s question on what kind of a solution he sees for the problem, President Sarkissian said: “There is only one way – the constitutional [way], there are no other ways and there can’t be. No one can and shouldn’t open the Pandora’s box, the box when people will start not respecting the constitution. If this happens once, the second, third precedents will follow”.
Speaking about the causes of the ongoing developments in Armenia, the President emphasized that it is a complex issue and isn’t simple.
President Armen Sarkissian stressed that any change which is done on the scale of the country is very sensitive. “There are foreign and domestic effects, social injustice, corruption. The young people wanted to have a better understanding about their future. I believe this is a complex issue, which was formed because of the absence of dialogue between the government and the people during many years, and it came out of its limits in terms of emotions at this moment”, he said.
The President stressed that holding elections in the country – be it parliamentary or presidential, act as a focal point for any process, emotions and complaints get a chance for self expression.
“I believe our case was like this. Political reforms of this scale aren’t done easily in any country. Even in most developed and stable countries any political reform or change aren’t easy. Look at Great Britain and Brexit. It isn’t easy at all,” the President said.
