ArmInfo.Press Secretary of Artsakh President David Babayan again denied the statements of ex-Minister of Defense Samvel Babayan, in which he accuses the Artsakh authorities of illegal actions, which prevent him from initiating the process of constitutional reforms and running for president of NKR in 2020.
It should be noted that Babayan considers the decision of Artsakh's Central Election Commission to limit the opportunities and deadlines for collecting signatures for the start of constitutional reforms through a referendum, adopted immediately after his statement about his intention to run for president of the republic, as illegal.Meanwhile, as press secretary of the Artsakh President David Babayan assured in an interview with the ArmInfo correspondent, the decision of the CEC is legal. He ruled out the possibility of political pressure on any of the contenders for the presidency of the republic, including Samvel Babayan. At the same time, he avoided direct answers to the question of what caused the need for the CEC to make a decision that limits the time and place for collecting signatures in order to carry out constitutional reforms. With these questions, Babayan suggested contacting the CEC of Artsakh.Speaking about the likelihood of early elections in Artsakh against the background of possible political destabilization, David Babayan refuted such a scenario. According to him, the situation in the republic is now stable, despite the desire of some leaders to destabilize it. "We have a Constitution, and we will follow its provisions and the letter of the law. According to the Constitution, presidential elections should be held in 2020, and it will be so," Babayan concluded.In turn, Artsakh's former defense minister Samvel Babayan, in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent, noted that the CEC's decision is not onlyillegal, but also illogical.
"Firstly, the deadline for collecting signatures for constitutional reforms was limited to 45 days. In addition, the CEC found that collecting signatures should be done in specific places, for example, in regional or rural administrations, this significantly torpedoes the process. Take, for example, , Stepanakert, where about 40,000 citizens live.If the collection of signatures will take place in the city hall, as decided by the CEC, then queues will form in the city administration. It turns out that people have to stand in line to subscribe. We suggest creating 10 such items, so that people are comfortable, and so that they can avoid the queues>, said Samvel Babayan.He wondered why the CEC made such a decision, immediately after his statement of intention to initiate constitutional reforms? Why do the authorities artificially torpedo his ballot? "I urge the NKR authorities to return to the legal mainstream and by their actions do not exacerbate the situation in the republic, otherwise it may get out of control", said Babayan. He also said that he had learned literally the day before that in 2006 Artsakh's authorities deprived Artsakh of its republic's citizenship, Babayan intends to appeal this decision in court.It should be noted that the Yerkir Tsiran Party has already made a statement, in which Babayan expressed her solidarity in the matter of restorationcitizenship of Artsakh.The head of the CEC of Artsakh, Srbui Arzumanyan, in turn, in response to questions from ArmInfo correspondent, explained that the CEC's decision was not overwhelming, the corresponding bill had been prepared earlier, however, since the adoption of the bill would take a little longer, the CEC had made the appropriate decision.As for the time limits for collecting signatures, the head of the CEC found them quite reasonable. "The largest city of Artsakh is Stepanakert, in which just over 38 thousand voters. To initiate constitutional reforms, 3865 Stepanakertt signatures will be required. That is, if this process lasts 45 days, then a day in the city administration in order to sign There will be no queues in this case. About the CEC's decision to choose a specific place for collecting signatures, in the first place, came from the desire to ensure the technical convenience of this process, "explained A. zumanyan.It should be noted that, according to the Constitution of Artsakh, the candidate for the post of the president of the republic should live on itsterritory. Babayan does not pass this qualification. However, the same Constitution provides an opportunity to initiate the reform of the Basic Law when collecting the appropriate number of signatures of citizens of the republic. Babayan with his supporters intends to follow this path in order to have time to put forward his candidacy in the presidential elections of 2020.In addition to Babayan, Security Council Secretary of Artsakh Vitaly Balasanyan also announced his intention to run for the presidential elections.
The two largest parties of Artsakh and also intend to nominate candidates for the upcoming elections, but they have not officially announced their names. However, according to media reports from the party "Free Homeland" will be nominated by former Prime Minister Araik Harutyunyan, from the "Democratic Party" the current speaker Ashot Ghoulian. Participation in the elections of both candidates from the parties Sasna Tsrer and ARF Dashnaktsutyun is not excluded. Information about the Minister of Defense Levon Mnatsakanyan and even the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan, who is from Artsakh, slipped through to the media.Recall that in 2001 Samvel Babayan was convicted of attempted murder of the second President of Artsakh, Arkady Ghukasyan. Subsequently in 2004 he was pardoned. And in 2017, he was convicted for attempting to smuggle Igla from Armenia into Georgia for 6 years. He was subsequently released early.