YEREVAN (TASS) — Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has called for forming a government of national accord, new elections and a constitutional referendum, the presidential website reported on Sunday.

“After such a bog tragedy, any country decides that the government that has let it happen must resign”, he said at a meeting with delegates from the Armenian diaspora during his private visit to Russia, commenting on the outcome of the outbreak of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. “If a politician is strong enough he may be back again later. The previous elections took place two and a half years ago, when the country was absolutely different. Now we are living in a different country.”

“There is a civilized way — early elections, an interim government of national accord. It doesn’t mean that each party is not have a minister, it means that a politician who enjoys general respect forms a government, preferably, a technocratic one”, he said, adding that a government of national accord should work for six to twelve months, until new elections, after which a new cabinet will be formed by the winning political force.

The Armenian president said also that it would be necessary to organize a constitutional referendum before the new elections. “Any constitution, both in a presidential and in a parliamentary system, must have checks and balances, mechanisms of containment”, he said.

He stressed that neither the president nor the prime minister should not be allowed to take decisions on vital matters at their own discretion. “These things should be balanced. Our constitution is not. There should be balance between the parliament, the government and the presidential authority”, Sarkissian said, adding that the president should be elected in a nationwide vote, not by the parliament, as it is practiced in Armenia now.