We Demand the Government to Abandon the Repeated Extension of the State of Emergency: 'Homeland' Party

The extension of the state of emergency serves exclusively political purposes. This is stated in a message released by the 'Homeland' Party.

'The state of emergency, already extended twice, will end on June 13. During this period, it became clear that the maintenance of the state of emergency pursues purely political goals for the simple reason that the legislation of Armenia, particularly the laws regulating the protection of the population in emergencies, can fully and completely provide all the necessary legal tools without declaring a state of emergency, including for the very purposes that the current government laid down as the basis for the decision to impose a state of emergency.

The full application of the specified legislative provisions can entirely ensure the implementation of all measures related to the pandemic that are currently in effect. The difference from the state of emergency is exclusively in the restrictions applied for the political purposes set by the current government. Lacking a counterbalancing institution for protest actions, the government has engaged in the adoption of numerous problematic laws complicating people's lives and organizing criminal prosecutions against political opponents during this time. Meanwhile, all moral and political norms required that the parliament should only adopt laws related to the pandemic during this period and refrain from any other initiatives while the public was restricted in its right to express opinions.

The maintenance of the state of emergency does not provide a single additional opportunity that can be related to the fight against the pandemic. Instead, under the state of emergency, the freedom of assembly is restricted, the parliamentary power to express no confidence in the Prime Minister is curtailed, and constitutional referendums are blocked.

It is evident that the current political power is aware of the widespread dissatisfaction among the public towards them, which is ready to chain Pashinyan to the pillar of no confidence. Therefore, considering the implementation of anti-epidemic measures as mandatory, we demand the government to abandon the repeated extension of the state of emergency, which will again lead to the unjustified restriction of citizens' constitutional rights.'