Path of Law

Statement

A few days ago, along with over a hundred lawyers, we publicly stated that the referendum initiated by political authorities is unconstitutional both procedure-wise and content-wise.

Nevertheless, the referendum has been set and is a reality.

Events taken place during the past few days have shown that parliamentary and extra-parliamentary parties have not expressed their desire to form the “NO” campaign side.

In these circumstances, besides legitimacy, there is a question of fairness of the referendum.

Under these conditions, proceeding from the imperative to uphold the values of democracy and the rule of law, we are starting to hold consultations within the legal community on the formation of the “NO” campaign side by civil initiative, in the manner prescribed by law.

The objectives of this initiative are to:

1) enable citizens of the Republic of Armenia to have access to arguments substantiating both “YES” and other options excluding “YES”, on an equal footing;

2) give citizens of the Republic of Armenia, as well as the international community, the opportunity to have confidence that voting results have been monitored and objectionable.

Thus, our goal is to take the “public protection” of “NO” opinions for the benefit of the Republic of Armenia and our citizens.

We invite all lawyers who share the mentioned ideas to join the initiative group.