Friday, February 24 2017 12:36

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.