Political scientist: Armenia needs Constitutional safeguards  to end  "one-man-rule"

ArmInfo.  Armenia needs constitutional amendments that would eliminate the possibility of all power being concentrated in the hands of one person, according to  Vahe Hovhannisyan, a member of the Alternative Projects Group.

"Do you think that if one day he decides that as part of the  "reconstruction" of the church it is necessary to invite an imam to  our churches, won't the "pilgrimage" be the same? Won't the first row  of officials accompanying him be the same, won't the layer of  community leaders be the same, won't the police behave the same,  won't the reports of the H1 TV company have the same content? The  situation will be exactly the same. Do you think that if Aliyev  imposes that one of the deputy prime ministers of the Republic of  Armenia must be an Azerbaijani, won't the same picture emerge? Won't  the government representatives say that this is in line with the  logic of the peace? Will it not be difficult to fit this into the  concept of "Real Armenia" and win the hearts of those who trample on  it everywhere? It's a matter of an hour, one message, and the same  machine will work. Ministers will publicly defend it, puppet  intellectuals will do it, globalist liberal thinkers will do it.  Vigen Avetis will receive an order to make a bust of the first  Azerbaijani.  The deputy prime minister will do it. And most  importantly, those who remain silent will continue to remain silent,"  the political scientist noted.

At the moment, he said, this may seem grotesque, but it's very close  to the abomination happening today.  "Our real problem is the lack of  a mechanism to counter any abomination. And if this is so, then  Azerbaijan and Turkey, and not only they, realizing this, will impose  serious, by no means grotesque things. Was it possible, starting in  the 90s, to form a "deep state" model that would allow us to avoid  serious mistakes?  Probably not. We had neither the potential nor the  imagination for this. But we managed to form a mechanism for  involving individuals and groups with their own opinions in the  decision-making process, which gradually collapsed, reaching  perfection today, when one person replaces all institutions. Is it  possible, after so many catastrophes, to follow the path of creating  a "deep state" in the near future that would allow us to avoid  historical mistakes in the future? Probably not again. Again, we have  neither the potential nor the imagination. It is much more realistic  to solve two issues - to end the stage of deep stupidity and form a  new concept of public administration, where there will be real  counterweights. The most acute problem of our country is the  concentration of all power in the hands of one.  "We can't rely on  goodwill, on the successors always being competent, restrained, and  firm," Hovhannisyan noted.

He added that there are two important tasks: constitutional  amendments (pro-Armenian) and the intensive development of a real  civil society. A new or amended constitution is needed that would  guarantee that counterbalancing mechanisms will work under all  circumstances, regardless of the qualifications of the incumbents.  "However, there is one precondition: the constitutional amendments  must be initiated by the new authorities, who have no connection with  the Civil Contract party," the political scientist concluded.