ArmInfo.The referendum held in Arstakh started the actual process of the administration system from Semi-Presidential to Presidential. And more responsibilities being obtained by the President lead the Republic to more personalized administration, Alexander Iskandaryan, the Caucasus Research Institute Director expressed his opinion to ArmInfo.
On February 20, 2017 a Constitutional referendum took place in Artsakh. The admission formed 76,44%. According to preliminary data, the project of Modifications to the Constititution was supported by 87,6% of voters, and 9,7 % of the population voted against.
" The reasons to hold the referendum right now are pretty enough, but the main reason is the increasing number of combat collisions at Artsakh-Azerbaijani border, rise of violence and increase of pressure from Azerbaijan, including of course, the April escalation. All these leads to stronger consolidation, considering the enemy's threats. And today the Presidential power concentration looks to be more expedient system for administration in Artsakh," he mentioned.
According to Iskandaryan, in the result of all this a paradox rises - the Azerbaijani pressure increase leads to the strengthening of Artsakh resistance. And the results of the referendum clearly state that Artsakh people accept the situation exactly as a reason for consolidation.
At the same time, the political expert does not think that referendum could essentially affect the situation at South Caucasus, mentioning that the April escalation was caused by exactly by the idea of holding such a referendum. According to his estimations, before the April events all the discussions about the necessity of Constitutional changes were held in quite another format.
" There are lot of things done in Artsakh today for the improvement of the security. And, considering the threat coming from Baku, the security is accepted as the first priority. Armenian reacts the referendum very tranquilly, considering that the referendum is absolutely internal affair of Artsakh. And Azerbaijan's reaction to such events is hostile just and only because those take place in Artsakh," Iskandaryan summarized.