YEREVAN. – You are the master of your country and your Constitution. Christoph Grabenwarter (Austria), a member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission), stated the aforesaid at Tuesday’s talks, in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan, with representatives of the political parties and NGOs of the country.

Grabenwarter reflected on the remarks by Ruben Hakobyan—who heads the National Assembly faction of the opposition Heritage Party—that the most troubling matter in the draft Constitution of Armenia is that of forming a stable majority in the country’s parliament, and query as to in which countries such a stable majority is formed in this manner, which is unacceptable for Heritage.

“The initial view actually stems from the situation that formed in San Marino; similar solutions were given in Greece, too,” stated the Venice Commission member. “Our task is to study all other systems [of governance].

“We ensure compliance with the rules of the game, and the Constitution is a collection of the rules of the game.”

The Venice Commission representatives said that on the whole the draft concept is in accordance with the European standards.

“It does not contradict European standards. Although we criticized it, we noted that the paragraphs referring to human rights are in full compliance with the European standards,” he added.

The new draft Constitution of Armenia has been forwarded to the National Assembly. The respective parliamentary debates are expected to get underway during its first four-day fall session. And as per National Assembly President Galust Sahakyan, the constitutional referendum should be conducted in late September.

Pursuant to the draft Constitution, Armenia will make a transition from a presidential to a parliamentary system of governance. The Venice Commission, however, recommends that the provision of a two-phased parliamentary election system in the country should be removed from this draft.