Thursday, July 2 2020 16:57

ArmInfo. In my opinion, it would be  reasonable that the president had provided proper explanation of the  reasons of his refusal to sign the bill "On the Constitutional  Court". This would help to avoid various assumptions and  speculations, Chairman of the Public Council of Armenia Stepan  Safaryan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.

On June 30, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian informed the NA  Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan of his refusal to sign the amendments to the  Law on the Constitutional Court. At the same time, the President did  not report the reasons for the refusal.

, Safaryan said.

According to the head of the Public Council, in this particular case  it does not matter at all that Nikol Pashinyan is the prime minister,  Armen Sarkissian is the president, and the My Step bloc is in power.  The principle that forms the government and the separation of  branches of government is important. Thus, according to his  estimates, did not violate the framework of constitutional  regulations by its decisions. No matter how much the "opposition"  accuses the bloc of this. In turn, the president transferred his own  powers to the "My Step" bloc, refusing to share responsibility.

Safaryan highlighted a lack of time as another related problem.  According to him, the current government demonstrated haste in  resolving the situation around the Constitutional Court. The reason  is the entry of the Tovmasyan's Constitutional Court into an  unconstitutional, essentially illegal hasty process pursuing purely  political goals.

"This was the reason for the hasty adoption of amendments to the  Constitution by the parliament. The authorities had to dismiss the  chairman and members of the Constitutional Court in order to stop the  lawlessness in their execution. The matter in particular concerns the  scheduled meeting of the Constitutional Court on July 8 to consider  the statement of Robert Kocharyan and the Court of First Instance,"  Safaryan concluded.

The National Assembly adopted in the second and final reading the  draft amendments to the Constitution of Armenia. The draft of the My  Step faction provides for amendments to the article 213, which  regulates the term of office of the chairman and members of the  Constitutional Court, as well as the removal of judges appointed  prior to the entry into force of the seventh chapter of the  Constitution, with expired powers. The project also provides for the  termination of the powers of the chairman and the appointment of a  new chairman of the Constitutional Court.

Thus, Hrayr Tovmasyan, whose 12-year term of office as head of the  Constitutional Court has not expired, will continue to work only as a  judge of the Constitutional Court. On June 26, amendments to the  Constitution adopted by the parliament came into force, leaving  Alvina Gyulumyan, Felix Tokhyan and Hrant Nazarian left behind.  Within two months, three new Constitutional Court judges should be  elected.