The political force berating the government most severely and ruling out any contacts with it is considered opposition in Armenia, Hrair Tovmasyan, a specialist in constitutional law told journalists on September 9.

According to him, “among us these relations verge on the task destroying each other.” The sense of political opposition is to serve as a counterbalance and alternative to the incumbent authorities, as well as supervise the authorities, the expert said, pointing out a low level of political culture. “Unfortunately, when we look back to see a solution or compromise reached as a result of discussions, we can see that even fingers of one hand are too many for that. In other cases the purpose of discussions is insulting, deriding each other, but never trying to find a solution to the problem,” the expert said. Tovmasyan said that accusing the authorities has become a tradition in assessing the way passed by the country. “However, we can ask: what did the Opposition do to change anything in the country?” he asked.

The expert points out the necessity for decisions that would guarantee the political Opposition’s activities, with the Opposition’s major aim being to find solutions to the problems by means of political discussions. A number of proposals were made which require constitutional reforms. “For example, it may be granting the parliamentary Opposition the right to apply to the Constitutional Court, which would be an important mechanism. A number of laws are in obvious conflict with the Constitution, but the Opposition has no resources for resisting,” the expert said. The second proposal is to allow the Opposition to form interim parliamentary commissions.