ArmInfo.The "Armenia" faction, as stated, challenged the legislative package on the enlargement of communities in the Constitutional Court.
"It is noteworthy that the President of the republic, Armen Sarkissian, who constantly complains about his powers, having a constitutional duty to monitor the observance of the Constitution, in conditions when the legislative package contradicted at least the requirements of the recently adopted decision by the Constitutional Court, violating the right of 441 communities to be heard, did not apply to the Constitutional Court, he simply limited himself to meetings with some representatives of the authorities.
Taking into account the relevance of the issue, the "Armenia" faction also submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court for the immediate suspension of this legislative package. The appeal was registered with the Constitutional Court yesterday," the statement of "Armenia" says.
To recall, on September 8, the government approved a package of amendments to the law "On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia" and "On local self-government", according to which, as a result of the unification of 441 communities in Armenia, there will be 37 communities. The remaining 404 communities will have the status of a settlement, where instead of the head of the community, there will be an administrative representative, and the head and the Council of Elders of the enlarged community will manage the budget. After the completion of the entire process, there will be 77 enlarged communities in Armenia, not counting Yerevan. The process started in 2016, then, as a result of the unification of 486 communities, 54 enlarged communities were created. At this stage, among the enlarging communities there are those that have already been enlarged in the past, this time new communities will be added to them. The bill was passed by parliament on 24 September. Now, according to the document, in all 37 newly formed communities, even if the term of office of the head of the community has not expired, elections to the Council of Elders on party lists will be held in the near future.
The candidate for the party with the highest number of votes will lead the community. We also add that on September 8, at a government meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that there is a decision of the Constitutional Court that holding a local referendum on this issue is unconstitutional and consolidation as a political process will be decided only in the area of the National Assembly - the government. The political decision has already been made, the prime minister said.