ArmInfo. On February 7, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia Tigran Mukuchyan met with the members of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affaires. In an interview with reporters, Mukuchyan informed that during the meeting issues related to legislative acts directly related to the activities of the CEC were presented and opinions and positions were voiced in this regard.
Answering a question regarding the decision adopted on the eve of the parliament on introducing draft amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia to the referendum, Mukuchyan noted that the start of all organizational work and the campaign process will be given only after the referendum is approved. The head of the CEC emphasized that in 2018, during the extraordinary parliamentary elections, the corresponding work was carried out in a shorter time. As in the case of parliamentary elections, the CEC, as Mukuchyan emphasized, will act in accordance with the deadlines established by law. In the case of the constitutional referendum, we are talking about a period of 50-65 days after the approval of its holding. Answering a question regarding whether he has any problems or contradictions with the current authorities, Mukuchyan noted that the CEC is an independent commission and always works based on legislation.
Yesterday, the Armenian parliament decided to submit draft amendments to the Constitution to the referendum. Thus, this question is referred actually to the will of the citizens of the country. During the meeting, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan delivered a speech. In particular, he stated that at one time the Republican Party of Armenia usurped power belonging to the people. Pashinyan emphasized that the issue of the Constitutional Court should be decided by the people of Armenia. The prime minister also called on judges of the Constitutional Court to resign before the president signs the referendum law.
In turn, PACE has already spoken on this topic. PACE co-rapporteurs for monitoring in Armenia called on Yerevan to send a bill to the Venice Commission on amendments to the republic's constitution in order to remove the head of the Constitutional Court and a number of judges and wait for her answer. They noted that this opinion, in the case of a referendum, would be valuable to all parties.