Pashinyan Plans to Assume the Presidential Position: 'Hraparak'

'Hraparak' reports: 'On December 18, based on Nikol Pashinyan's decision, the process of forming the Council for Constitutional Reforms was launched. The previous council was dissolved, and the new council is led by Justice Minister Karen Andreasian. Its members include the representative of Armenia in the European Court of Human Rights, the Chairman of the National Assembly's Legal Affairs Committee, the Human Rights Defender, one member from each parliamentary faction, a representative from the Supreme Judicial Council, and representatives from extra-parliamentary parties that have participated in elections at least twice. Edmond Marukyan and Aram Zavenichi from the 'Republic' party have been chosen. Three more members are from civil society: Arthur Sakunts, Daniel Ioannisyan, and Tigran Egoryan. In the coming days, the Prime Minister will approve the council's composition, after which the council will establish a commission made up of 5 scientific experts to draft the constitutional reform proposal.

About a year ago, during the so-called 'attempted military coup,' while discussing the necessity of constitutional reforms, Pashinyan did not rule out the possibility of transitioning to a semi-presidential system. However, by the end of the year, he expressed the opposite view, stating that he supports parliamentary governance. How the council and the commission will navigate these contradictory statements remains unclear. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the year, Pashinyan instructed his political team to restart the territorial structures and prepare for a constitutional referendum to change the governance model to a semi-presidential system, where the security forces would again come under the president's control. It is evident that Pashinyan plans to occupy the office of the President of Armenia.'