Semi Presidentialism Essay: The Choice Of Semi-Presidentialism

The Choice of Semi-presidentialism
In 1988, a new force was formed that was opposed to the existing communist rule in Armenia. This was the so-called Karabakh movement. In 1989 it was renamed the Armenian National Movement (ANM). The movement was initially formed by a group within the Armenian intelligentsia aimed at solving the Nagorno Karabakh issue. Nagorno Karabakh (or Artsakh) was historically part of Armenia, but had become part of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic in 1920. By the end of the 1980s, about three-quarters of the population in the Nagorno Karabakh autonomous oblast was Armenian. This grass-roots movement formed the basis of a proto-opposition to the communist elites in the parliamentary elections of May 1990. The elections
In November 1990 parliament passed a law depoliticizing state enterprises, and educational institutions, which formed the basis for the elimination of the one-party system. In February 1991, the Law “On social-political organizations” established the basis for a multi-party system. In January 1991, the Armenian parliament decided not to participate in the all-Union referendum on the preservation of the Soviet Union to be held across the USSR on 1 March 1991. Instead, a referendum was held in the territory of the Republic of Armenia on secession from the USSR. The referendum took place on 21 September 1991. About 93 % of voters participated in the referendum, and about 99.5 % of those voting were in favor of independence. Following the referendum, on 25 September 1991, parliament adopted a Constitutional Law, ‘”On the provisions of independent statehood’,” where it was decided to keep those parts of the 1978 Constitution that did not contradict the 1990 Constitutional law and to develop a new Constitution. The Constitutional Commission was established on 5 November 1991, but only started its work in October 1992 (Khachatryan 2001,
To begin with, there had been no major debate about the creation of the presidency. On 25 June 1991, the decision was made to establish a presidential institution in Armenia. On 1 August, the Law on the President of the Republic of Armenia was adopted. The first presidential election was scheduled for 16 October 1991. There were six candidates, but Levon Ter-Petrosyan won the election with 83 % of the votes cast or 58 % of registered voters. On 19 November the Law on the Supreme Soviet of the Republic of Armenia of 19 November was