Deputy of the National Assembly “Yelq” faction and member of the “Civil Contract” party Nikol Pashinyan was at a public discussion organized by the “Armenian Centre of Young Analysts”, where young analysts addressed him questions.
Aravot.am asked Mr. Pashinyan, that the “Civil Contract” proposes its plan of power change. If it takes such a step, does it mean that the “Civil Contract” does not accept the legitimacy of the parliamentary elections?
In response to our question, Mr. Pashinyan first touched upon their plan of power change: “If it turns out that the people want, are ready and express their will to change the power, we, as an organizational force, will act as a guarantor of that will. There should be an expression of will, that is, the people have decided, and we will implement the decision. As long as the people do not express that they want a different kind of country, a different kind of power, then it will not happen.”
As to the question about the legitimacy of parliamentary elections, Pashinyan responded: “Yelq bloc has given its assessment of the parliamentary elections through a post-election statement.” To our remark that “Yelq” has not stated that these elections are illegitimate, Pashinyan responded: “The statement reads that the elections took place under the conditions of a widespread vote-buying. And with regret, we have noted that hundreds of thousands of citizens of Armenia have been involved in the process of distributing and receiving bribes. Vote-buying is an act forbidden by the Criminal and Electoral Codes. Regarding legitimacy, we have said the following: there are generally two issues from the legal point of view, that is according to the direct meaning of the word legitimacy, the elections were illegal. But there is also another problem: in theoretical politics, it is easy to say that in general, any government in the world exists due to permission and allowance of the society. Now, if we allow vote-buying in our country, it means that people in our country let it happen and get involved in it. And this becomes a source for this kind of power.”
Then, Pashinyan continued pointing out that they might ask him if it is so, then why they started undertaking this now. The answer of the “Civil Contract”, according to Pashinyan, is clear: “We say well, people have been involved in vote-buying, so what? Should these people be in bondage throughout their whole life? No, our task is to liberate Armenian citizens.” In response to our remark implying if it is announced that the National Assembly is a legitimately elected body, then how the “Civil Contract” fights against the majority of the Parliament, whose constitutional right is the nomination of a Prime Minister candidate, Pashinyan said: ““Civil Contract” fights against the situation which is a consequence of vote-buying.”
Nelly BABAYAN
