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Armenian Presidential Frontrunner Eyes Major Leadership Role


Armenia - Former Prime Minister Armen Sarkissian visits the Yerevan offices of the All-Armenian Fund Hayastan, 12 February 2018.
Armenia - Former Prime Minister Armen Sarkissian visits the Yerevan offices of the All-Armenian Fund Hayastan, 12 February 2018.

President Serzh Sarkisian’s preferred successor insisted on Monday that Armenia’s next president will have broad powers despite the country’s impending transition to a parliamentary system of government.

The transition will make the Armenian prime minister the most powerful state official with wide-ranging executive powers, including those of commander-in-chief. A number of new bills drafted by the Armenian government in recent weeks will only underline the ceremonial functions of the next president of the republic to be elected by the National Assembly early next month. They have drawn strong criticism from opposition groups that accuse Sarkisian of further curtailing presidential powers to maintain a tight grip on power for five more years.

Armen Sarkissian (no relation), a former prime minister nominated by the ruling Republican Party for the presidency, again dismissed a widely held view that the next head of state will largely be a figurehead.

“I am closely monitoring those processes,” Sarkissian said in reference to ongoing parliamentary debates on the controversial bills. “But whether or not I become president, I view the future president’s activities in a broader sense because you can run [a country] by governing or by leading. You obviously need levers in order to govern, but you can lead with ideas, programs, a vision and so on.”

“The president of the republic can have not only all these things but they also have a very broad scope of powers under the current constitution,” he told reporters.

Under the controversially amended constitution, the next president will be primarily tasked with ensuring “observance of the constitution” by various branches of government. In particular, he or she will be able to send parliament-approved bills to the Constitutional Court for examination in case of objecting to their provisions. The bills will have to be signed into law if the court certifies their conformity with the basic law.

The president will also be empowered to appoint members of the government, Armenian ambassadors abroad and the Armenian army’s top brass. But all of those officials will be nominated by the prime minister. In addition, he or she can sign international treaties recommended by the ruling cabinet.

The outgoing president formally offered Armen Sarkissian to be the ruling party’s presidential candidate late last month. The latter said he will decide whether to accept the nomination after holding consultations with Armenian political parties and other groups.

Sarkissian, who has been Armenia’s ambassador to Britain since 2013, said on Monday that he will announce the decision at his next meeting with Serzh Sarkisian. He gave no date for that meeting.

The ex-premier met on Saturday with lawmakers representing businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s alliance, the second largest parliamentary force which is officially in opposition to the government. He is due to hold separate talks with Tsarukian this week.

According to Gevorg Petrosian, a Tsarukian Bloc parliamentarian, the bloc will then decide whether to back his candidacy. Commenting on the weekend meeting, Petrosian said the nominee pledged to strive for major changes in the country in case of agreeing to become president.

Sarkissian also met with senior members of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), another opposition force led by former President Levon Ter-Petrosian. The latter did not take part in the discussion.

In a statement, the HAK said its representatives discussed with Sarkissian the “rigged” parliamentary elections of April 2017 and constitutional referendum held in December 2015. It said they warned him that his presidential run would serve to legitimize the alleged fraud.

Sarkissian, 64, said on Monday that he disagrees with the HAK on “many issues.” “There are also issues on which we seem to have the same views and I think that those relations will continue,” he told reporters.

Incidentally, it was Ter-Petrosian who appointed Sarkissian as prime minister in 1996. The former Cambridge University scholar resigned four months later, ostensibly because of a serious illness.

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