Talking about the amendments to the Constitution made by the National Assembly, constitutional expert Gor Hovhannisyan told PARA TV that he agrees with the view on unconstitutionality, has been talking about it since February and has given thorough explanations in the light of all the principles of constitutional law.

According to him, both the initial version put to a referendum and the reviewed and softened version are unconstitutional.

According to Hovhannisyan, the proportionate solution to the issue would be to reduce the term of office of judges to 12 years, as it is envisaged by the existing Constitution, but the term of office had to start ‘flowing’ from the moment of adoption of the decision.

“In addition, what is also very inconsistent is the approach towards the president of the Constitutional Court and termination of the president’s powers, and in my opinion, this is unconstitutional. The president had to serve for another six years from the moment of adoption of the amendments, after which the judges would elect a new president in the manner prescribed by the Constitution,” he said, adding that the Venice Commission also didn’t agree with the proposed version, and this is why at the end of the conclusion, it expressed pity that the Armenian authorities asked for the opinion of the Venice Commission, but didn’t take it into consideration.