Artsakh`s ex-defense minister accuses NKR authorities of illegal  actions: The authorities deny these accusations

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.