Aram Manukyan advises authorities to quit idea of enlarging rural communities
In his November 12 speech in Parliament, Secretary of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) Faction Aram Manukyan suggested that the authorities should quit the idea of enlarging rural communities.
In particular, he pointed out that at the referendums on merger of rural communities the number of non- participants was several times as high as the number of those who voted for enlargement. "One should not merge the communities because the residents of these communities have different cultural values and views and this may result in conflicts," said Manukyan.
Given the high turnout in Syunik province, Manukyan suggested leaving the program of community enlargement in Syunik as a pilot project and see how the province is developing. "If you think that Syunik is a democratic province and Governor Surik Khachatryan is a democrat, you are mistaken," he said.
According to the Central Electoral Commission, the residents of Tavush and Lori provinces did not support the idea of enlarging the rural communities. Only the Syunik province voted "for" (Syunik province has the smallest population in Armenia after Vayots Dzor province - editor's note). The referendum in Syunik, where 94% voted "for", demonstrated a quite high turnout, while the turnout in Lori and Tavush provinces was no more than 20-25%.
To note, on November 12, the National Assembly of Armenia continued the hearings on the draft amendments to the Law "On Administrative and Territorial Division" aimed at implementation of the pilot project on enlargement of rural communities.