Referendum Closes the Chapter on Illegitimate Bodies and Officials, Prime Minister

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has released a statement on his Facebook page, stating: “A REFERENDUM (project) on April 5, 2020, will reaffirm the highest authority of the people of Armenia, established through the non-violent, velvet, popular revolution of 2018, for the first time renewing faith in its future since the 1991 Independence Referendum and the victory recorded in the Artsakh Liberation War in 1994.

Emphasizing its commitment to democracy and widely accepted democratic values (specifically, the rule of law, equality before the law, an independent judiciary, freedom of speech and the press, free and competitive elections), the Armenian people express their determination to build a strong, prosperous, and corruption-free state through the unification and development of the creative talent of the Armenian people, and to achieve a just resolution to the Artsakh issue, in light of this, it states:

1. From 1995 until the non-violent velvet revolution of 2018, no official results of nationwide elections reflected the free will of the people. The results of the 1999 parliamentary elections, which were nullified due to the October 27 terror attack in 1999, did reflect the will of the population.

2. Simultaneously with the limitation of the people's free expression of will, i.e., the illegal influence on the voters' will, and the processes of falsifying election results, a corrupt system has begun to take shape in Armenia, which has transformed into systemic corruption. This phenomenon existed in Armenia until the non-violent velvet revolution of 2018, manifesting through widespread bribery, a flawed reimbursement system from state expenditures (kickbacks), the establishment of artificial economic monopolies, and the blending of business with presidential, legislative, executive, and judicial powers.

3. Under these conditions, the presidential, legislative, executive, and judicial powers, including the Constitutional Court, largely served personal and group interests, pushing aside the national and state interests of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people, the rule of law, and hampering the development of Armenia and the welfare of its people. As a result, numerous high-ranking officials have accumulated vast illegal wealth.

4. The return of the illegally amassed wealth of high-ranking state officials to the state treasury is an inalienable right of the Republic of Armenia and its people. This process should occur exclusively through legal means, with the formation of an effective law enforcement system in the Republic of Armenia and an independent judiciary, including an independent and legitimate Constitutional Court.

5. Effective mechanisms must be established for the separation of powers and business in Armenia; power cannot serve as a means for accumulating wealth or for preserving accumulated wealth.

6. Only an electoral system that ensures the free expression of the people can serve as a guarantee of effective governance endowed with a system of checks and balances; therefore, the people of Armenia will not tolerate any manifestation or phenomenon aimed at exerting illegal influence on the will of voters, falsifying election results, or distorting or disregarding the will of the people.

Through the referendum on April 5, 2020, the people will close the chapter on the existence of illegitimate bodies and officials in state and local self-government in Armenia.”