Davit Harutyunyan: “Legitimacy is not questioned on the basis of any organization’s statements, especially the president’s legitimacy”
16:41, March 9, 2018
Today there are a number of legal mechanisms of disputing Armen Sargsyan’s legitimacy in the post of President one of which is that the Human Rights Defender may apply to the Constitutional Court. Such an observation was made by human rights defender and Chairperson of Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor Office Artur Sakunts. The organization headed by him is among a number of organizations that released a statement in the press about Armen Sargsyan not being a legitimate president.
As stated by Artur Sakunts, at the moment the objective of civil society is to present its standpoint and give assessments.
“It is understandable that in the current political situation in Armenia it is unacceptable for decision takers to address this question by representatives of civil society. But these questions have been raised before, they have just been neglected once again,” says Artur Sakunts in his interview to MediaLab.
It should be recalled that a number of organizations have released a statement according to which Armen Sargsyan, who has taken up the post of President, has an issue of legitimacy. According to the statement, Armen Sargsyan has not in any way dispelled doubts over his citizenship, in particular doubts over him meeting the constitutional requirement of being an RA citizen for the last six years.
“We state that the constitutional confusion about the RA President being elected directly by the people or by the National Assembly and the arbitrary interpretations of the constitutional norms concerning it already call into question the constitutionality of the election of the new president of the Republic of Armenia. In addition to this, Armen Sargsyan, who was elected by the majority of the National Assembly duties, is taking up the post of President in violation of the requirement connected with citizenship clearly established by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, thus raising reasonable doubts about his legitimacy and calling into question the ensuring of his main function as a guarantor of the Constitution,” reads the statement.
MediaLab inquired from Minister of Justice Davit Harutyunyan whether there are any legal mechanisms through which RA citizens could express their distrust towards the newly elected president and dispute the issue of his legitimacy. According to Harutyunyan, it is only possible to dispute it at the Constitutional Court.
“All in all, it can be disputed at the Constitutional Court; yet, those organizations cannot apply; only deputies can. You know what? Legitimacy is not questioned on the basis of any organization’s statements, especially the president’s legitimacy,” says Davit Harutyunyan to MediaLab. As stated by him, the option of a petition to apply to the Constitutional Court does not work in expressing distrust to the RA President. As regards the question raised by civil society and oppositionists as to why Armen Sargsyan does not finally bring a reference from the UK to confirm the cessation of his citizenship, Davit Harutyunyan responded that the law prescribes the receipt of this reference from the Passport and Visa Office of the Republic of Armenia, which the newly elected president did.
Human rights defender Artur Sakunts says that the addressee in this matter is Armen Sargsyan who agrees to take up the post of President of the RA with clear violations.
“We state that any of his words, wishes or expressions is already in doubt because if you agree to take up the post of President with violations, then what can you suggest? This is the main objective; the authorities should not all of a sudden think that they can present anything as they want to,” says Sakunts.
As for setting a legal course to the issue, the human rights defender says that there are a number of ways to apply to the Constitutional Court. One of them is the Ombudsman raising that question. The representatives of civil society, according to him, can think of this although there are not many hopes.
“But the Ombudsman will have to make a decision once again as it is an institution of an individual platform. The next option is that deputies can apply to the Constitutional Court but, as the majority of the deputies have voted for, it is clear that it will not happen. The other option is a referendum but that mechanism is still being discussed. We will touch upon this later,” says Artur Sakunts.
As indicated by him, a situation has emerged where Serzh Sargsyan, the incumbent president, is constantly in the position of illegitimacy. Through the constitutional changes a party or political system was supposed to be established and strengthened, but that same party system was destroyed yet again when Gagik Tsarukyan was brought back to the political field. In fact, the voice of the opposition turned to dust and was destroyed.
“And the fact that most of today’s president’s powers are concentrated in the hands of the prime minister by law speaks of the fact that these legal tricks overall aimed at strengthening personal power and maintaining it,” says Sakunts.