Hrant Bagratyan: National Assembly can fall into the hands of several billionaires, as was the case with Berlusconi
During the discussion of the draft constitutional amendments at the Armenian the National Assembly, opposition lawmaker Hrant Baghratyan announced that promoting and protecting human rights is a priority under the new constitution; the draft document is human-centered. “How can you explain this? The same provisions can be found in the previous Constitution as well. Why do you limit the clauses relating conscience and family thereby dishonoring and destroying human rights? You are speaking about democracy at the same time calling attention to the issue of stable majority. You are citing the example of Italy but you seem to forget that tomorrow we may be facing the same problem when the parliament may appear in the hands of several billionaires as was the case with Berlusconi, which was a terrible phenomenon. It turns out that the opposition should have at least 40 percent of seats in parliament to be able to nominate a candidate in the second round,” Bagratyan said. Serzh Sargsyan’s representative Vardan Poghosyan said in reply, the draft constitution does not envisage suspension of the aforesaid rights. “Certain rights are limited for legitimate reasons. Also, marriages between relatives, foster parents and adopted child are prohibited."
