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The extension of the coronavirus state of emergency in Armenia has no purpose other than to delay the withdrawal of the current authorities, which is “simply unacceptable”, Former Director of the National Security Service (NSS), Chairman of the Homeland Party Artur Vanetsyan said on Twitter on Friday.

He stressed that the legitimacy of the whole process will soon be subjected to thorough investigation.

A statement issued by Vanetsyan’s party also decried the authority’s plan to extend the state of emergency for another 30 days, stating it pursues an “exclusively political goal.”

The party stated that the authorities could have taken all legal measures to protect people’s health under such circumstances without declaring a state of emergency, as envisaged by the Armenian law. The statement stressed that the restrictions in place during the state of emergency exclusively serve the political goals of the authorities.

“Lacking an institute to counterbalance the protests, the government has been busy adopting a number of controversial laws complicating people's lives and prosecuting political opponents throughout this period. Whereas, all the moral and political norms demanded that during this period the parliament passed only pandemic-related laws and refrained from taking any other initiative as long as the public was restricted in exercising its right to express an opinion,” the statement read.

“The maintenance of the state of emergency does not provide at least one additional opportunity that could be linked to the fight against the pandemic. Instead, the state of emergency restricts the freedom of assemblies, the parliament’s powers to express no confidence in the prime minister and the conduction of the constitutional referendum,” the party said.