Epress.am News from Armenia
The results of the referendums in 22 communities of Armenia's Lori, Syunik, and Tavush provinces scheduled to be conducted on May 17 regarding the Armenian Government's Community enlargement initiative are not essential for the final completion of the project. Although in such cases referendums are imposed by the Constitution, the ultimate political decision still belongs to the National Assembly, Vache Terteryan, First Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Emergency Situations, said during a parliamentary hearing on the project on Monday, May 4.
Responding to the question “What would happen if voter turnout was less than 50% on May 17, or the majority of the people voted against the community enlargement project?” Terteryan said: “Public opinion should be taken into account, but that does not mean that the National Assembly can't make a decision contradicting the results of the referendum. Naturally, no reform is adopted through consensus.”
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) faction MP Artsvik Minasyan inquired what methods the public interest would be measured by if the referendum was not important. The MP also wanted to know how conducting a referendum and not taking its results into account would promote democracy.
Terteryan responded, saying that referendums, though highly legitimate, were a more emotional and less informative method than, for example, talks and debates in communities.
It would be better if referendums were not mandatory when adopting administrative reforms, he said.
The Government's Community enlargement initiative has raised concerns among the residents in a number of villages that are subject to enlargement. In particular, the people have said that the merger would create serious transportation issues: for a single document, the residents would have to travel for 30-40 kilometers to reach the new administrative center. The villagers have also pointed out that the enlargement initiative was going to dissolve village administrations, which would lead to unemployment; in addition, it is unclear how land would be distributed in the communities.
Opposition Armenian National Congress party has also spoken against the Community enlargement, calling it dangerous.
The party believes, in particular, that the mechanical merger would deprive the village communities of their independence, would violate the principle of a private income and prevent investments into the communities, would ultimately eradicate the full participation of local people in the management of the communities, as well as create difficulties for the residents in everyday life.
In addition, the party considers it dangerous that the new community centers could absorb all the resources, creating an underlined imbalance in the development of the communities.