“Hayots Ashkharh” underlines on its front page: “October 27 is a black day in Armenia and God knows for how many decades it will remain such.”
“Six years have passed since the tragedy, and visiting both Yerablur and the Pantheon has become a sort of formality, just like the talks that the crime has not been fully disclosed,” “Aravot” argues in its editorial. “No matter how true these talks are, one can always contradict them. If you know something for sure, then say it. If these are simply suspicions, then there is no point in speaking about them.” In the paper’s view, the only question that is topical today is the question of the “political descendants” of the assassinated Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian and Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchian.
“The “Miasnutiun” bloc established by these two figures was a typical ‘party of the government’, a gathering of nomenclature bosses, like the Republican Party is today, and the Armenian National Movement (HHSh) was in the past. That bloc collapsed after October 27 without the power levers of Vazgen Sarkisian and the popularity of Karen Demirchian,” “Aravot” writes.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” protests what it calls a ‘sensational decision’ made by the Armenian authorities. “Before the referendum on constitutional reforms they have decided to withdraw from the voter lists the names of those who have no passports of Republic of Armenia citizens and so far have used old Soviet passports as IDs,” the paper writes, with its analyst claiming that these people are thus deprived of their civil right. The paper goes on to allege that this move is aimed at reducing the total number of eligible voters and lowering the threshold for ‘for’ votes required to pass the amendments. “It will turn out that instead of 800,000 ‘for’ votes, which is clearly an impossible thing, the authorities will need only 680,000 for the coalition’s draft to be considered adopted,” the paper writes, adding that with this filtering the authorities want to withdraw from the lists really existing people, leaving “dead souls” instead.
“There is no such thing,” Central Election Commission Secretary Hamlet Abrahamian retorts in “Hayots Ashkharh”, arguing that even in that case the number of voters will be approximately the same as in the 2003 elections.
Analyzing the consequences of failing to adopt the constitutional amendments in next month’s referendum, “Golos Armenii” writes that nothing particularly terrible will happen. “Simply we will be wasting time,” the paper concludes.
In “168 Zham” Deputy Parliament Speaker Tigran Torosian argues that phrases like “the constitution is a step forward, or half a step forward, or even half a step back” widely used by both pro-government and opposition representatives are nonsense. “Such conclusions can be made only by those who don’t understand anything,” he claims.
“NO is also YES, but in favor of the current constitution adopted in 1995,” “Hayots Ashkharh” writes, continuing the subject of the upcoming constitutional referendum.
(Hrach Melkumian)
“Six years have passed since the tragedy, and visiting both Yerablur and the Pantheon has become a sort of formality, just like the talks that the crime has not been fully disclosed,” “Aravot” argues in its editorial. “No matter how true these talks are, one can always contradict them. If you know something for sure, then say it. If these are simply suspicions, then there is no point in speaking about them.” In the paper’s view, the only question that is topical today is the question of the “political descendants” of the assassinated Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian and Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchian.
“The “Miasnutiun” bloc established by these two figures was a typical ‘party of the government’, a gathering of nomenclature bosses, like the Republican Party is today, and the Armenian National Movement (HHSh) was in the past. That bloc collapsed after October 27 without the power levers of Vazgen Sarkisian and the popularity of Karen Demirchian,” “Aravot” writes.
“Haykakan Zhamanak” protests what it calls a ‘sensational decision’ made by the Armenian authorities. “Before the referendum on constitutional reforms they have decided to withdraw from the voter lists the names of those who have no passports of Republic of Armenia citizens and so far have used old Soviet passports as IDs,” the paper writes, with its analyst claiming that these people are thus deprived of their civil right. The paper goes on to allege that this move is aimed at reducing the total number of eligible voters and lowering the threshold for ‘for’ votes required to pass the amendments. “It will turn out that instead of 800,000 ‘for’ votes, which is clearly an impossible thing, the authorities will need only 680,000 for the coalition’s draft to be considered adopted,” the paper writes, adding that with this filtering the authorities want to withdraw from the lists really existing people, leaving “dead souls” instead.
“There is no such thing,” Central Election Commission Secretary Hamlet Abrahamian retorts in “Hayots Ashkharh”, arguing that even in that case the number of voters will be approximately the same as in the 2003 elections.
Analyzing the consequences of failing to adopt the constitutional amendments in next month’s referendum, “Golos Armenii” writes that nothing particularly terrible will happen. “Simply we will be wasting time,” the paper concludes.
In “168 Zham” Deputy Parliament Speaker Tigran Torosian argues that phrases like “the constitution is a step forward, or half a step forward, or even half a step back” widely used by both pro-government and opposition representatives are nonsense. “Such conclusions can be made only by those who don’t understand anything,” he claims.
“NO is also YES, but in favor of the current constitution adopted in 1995,” “Hayots Ashkharh” writes, continuing the subject of the upcoming constitutional referendum.
(Hrach Melkumian)