Enlargement of political parties and formation of political coalitions is going on in Armenia at this moment; that is a welcome development, and we have been striving to achieve that.
President Serzh Sargsyan on Tuesday stated the aforesaid in his address at Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels, the capital city of Belgium.
In his address, Sargsyan also said, in particular:
Strong civil society, along with the separation of powers, is one of the best mechanisms for checks and balances.
That was the driving force behind the process of constitutional reforms we initiated in our country, and it has been going on for over two years. The amended Constitution has defined more precisely the authority framework for different branches of power, stressing the respect for human rights and making the voice of people heard in all areas. As a result, in our country has already commenced the process of building such a political system in which the influential actors will be not the individuals but political forces, political institutions. Enlargement of political parties and formation of political coalitions is going on in Armenia at this moment; that is a welcome development, and we have been striving to achieve that. Political parties are getting consolidated as stable institutes; smaller parties are disappearing or merging together.
For Armenia, to amend the Constitution was a bold step aimed on one side to the decentralization of the government, on the other hand – at the strengthening of the legal and constitutional order, which will allow to eradicate unacceptable manifestations of the post-Soviet flaws, decrease the corruption risks and provide the best possible conditions to move the country forward on the path of sustainable development.
In coming weeks, Armenia’s political system will undergo a serious test: at the beginning of April, in accordance with the amended Constitution and the new Electoral Code, we will conduct parliamentary elections. Fundamental changes were introduced into the Electoral Code as well, some of which resulted from the unprecedented dialogue and consensus between the authorities, opposition, and the civil society. To ensure a considerably greater public trust towards the electoral process and to conduct free and fair elections, we have actively introduced contemporary technical measures for the election monitoring. Moreover, in line with the wishes expressed by the opposition, we agreed to introduce such transparent and novel approaches towards which certain reservations were voiced by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. We agreed to do it because at this point a greater trust towards the process was the most important objective.
With this regard, I express gratitude to all our international partners, and particularly to the European Union, for the assistance provided from the very beginning of the process. The reformation process and its results have been praised by our international partners, such as the OSCE/ODHIR, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, and the European Union.
We have set the bar high: to conduct democratic, free, fair, and transparent elections. I have no doubt that we will reach this goal, and the atmosphere of the elections and the results of the entire process will prove the aptness of our approaches.
When we started the process of constitutional reforms, our major objective was not just to introduce a parliamentary model of government but to further strengthen democratic institutions through the decentralization of the authority and introduction of a fully proportional voting system. I think with this regard Armenia sets a positive example for other post-Soviet and regional countries.
