Wednesday, March 7 2018 15:18

ArmInfo. Citizens of Armenia will be able to come forward with an initiative to hold referenda. 

The draft constitutional law "On the Referendum" was adopted at the  meeting of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia on March  7 in the first reading by 64 votes in favor at 32 against. It is  interesting that 61 deputies voted on the draft, which is not enough  to make a decision, since at least 3/5 of the deputy corps or 64  parliamentarians were needed. However, NA Speaker Ara Babloyan  considered the decision adopted, since the three absent deputies left  a written statement about their intention to vote in favor of the  law, which caused discontent of the opposition faction "Elk". Head of  the faction Nikol Pashinyan again drew attention to the fact that a  number of pro-government deputies voted for their colleagues.

The day before, when introducing the document, RA First Deputy  Minister of Justice Artur Hovhannisyan noted that the need for  adoption of the law is conditioned by the requirements of the updated  Constitution.  It is about granting the right to hold a referendum  not only to the government and one-third of the deputy corps, but  also to initiative groups of citizens. In particular, the initiative  group of 2,000 people, which is registered with the Central Election  Commission, will receive the right to collect signatures. After  verification of authenticity of signatures, the CEC takes further  steps to hold a referendum. 

Draft laws submitted by civil initiatives, with 50 thousand  signatures, can be submitted to the National Assembly of the Republic  of Armenia. If the drafts are rejected by the parliament, then when  the additional 300 thousand signatures are collected, the question is  submitted to a referendum. After that, the plenipotentiary appeals to  the Central Election Commission to confirm the authenticity of the  signatures.  Then the draft should be submitted to the Constitutional  Court, and only in case of compliance with the Basic Law of the  country the draft is made by the president for a referendum. Citizens  of the country can sign signatures both directly under appeals for  holding a referendum, as well as in electronic form, as well as  signatures certified by notaries. Observation of the referendum will  be given to local public organizations, which were registered at  least a year ago. Any change in the state borders of Armenia must be  carried out exclusively through a referendum. Let us note, however,  that the draft law establishes a set of issues that can not be  regulated at all by means of a referendum. 

We are talking about the sphere of legal regulation of constitutional  laws, the state budget, taxes, duties and other obligatory payments,  issues related to state security, amnesty, intercommunity  associations and administrative division of the country, the number  of ministries and the order of government activities.