No major difference exists in Yerevan’s and Venice Commission’s approaches on Armenian constitutional reform

YEREVAN, August 25. /ARKA/. There are no key differences in the approaches on the Armenian constitutional reform package. This statement was made on Monday at the meeting between Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan and representatives of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), the press office of Armenia’s president reported.

At the meeting the president thanked the Commission for high-standard professional support in developing the draft constitutional reform for the country. He also stressed the importance of this assistance for legal reforms implemented in the country.

The sides exchanged their views on the democratic novelties proposed in the document and discussed the modern constitutional processes, according to the report.
 
On August 21, Armenia’s president Serzh Sargsyan sent the reforms envisaging Armenia’s transition to parliamentary republic to the country’s parliament.

Member of the constitutional reform commission Vardan Poghosyan is officially representing the president in the parliament.

The head of the state is planning to hold consultations with political parties on the reform approaches this week.

At the same time, the president of Armenia instructed the reform commission to continue the dialogue with the Venice Commission on a number of issues that relate to the opinion provided by the VC on the reform. 

According to the proposed changes, the President of Armenia is elected for a term of seven years (instead of the current five) by the electoral college (the president is elected in a national vote now) consisting of members of parliament and as many elected representatives of local authorities.

According to the document, the president is head of state, embodying national unity and ensuring the observance of the Constitution. He/she cannot be a member of a political party. One person can be elected as president only for one term.

The supreme executive authority is the government that develops and implements the internal and external policies. The government is also vested with power to implement the overall public administration.

The proposed changes oblige the president to appoint a candidate of prime minister of the party or party bloc that wins parliamentary elections. If parliamentary forces are unable to agree on the candidacy of the head of government, the parliament (National Assembly) is to be dissolved.

According to the published document, the armed forces are subordinated to the government, and the prime minister is the supreme commander of the armed forces during the war.

The proposed changes stipulate that parliament members are elected for five years by a proportional system. The unicameral parliament is to consist of at least 101 members (instead of the current 131). This means that 41 single-seat constituencies must be abolished. The new parliament must have representatives of national minorities. 

If there is no stable majority in parliament, the changes propose a second round of election that is to involve the two parties with the most votes. A commission member Vardan Poghosyan told a news conference earlier this month that this controversial provision may be removed  from the draft. –0--