During the official launch of the Strong Armenia party, Narek Karapetyan, coordinator of the opposition "Our Way" movement, presented the mechanism by which Strong Armenia party chairman Samvel Karapetyan, the well-known Russian Armenian businessman and philanthropist, can become the Prime Minister of Armenia.

"Our constitution has Article 148, which defines who should be the prime minister of our country. And how is Article 148 amended? It is amended by the National Assembly. It will be through the National Assembly, not through constitutional reforms. In order for you to be sure of the legality of the constitutionality of our proposal, I would like for us to hear the opinion of our well-known constitutional experts," noted Narek Karapetyan, who is the nephew of Samvel Karapetyan.

Then, the views of attorney and president of the International Comparative Law Center Siranush Sahakyan, Doctor of Law Artur Khambaryan, former deputy president of the Constitutional Court of Armenia Alvina Gyulumyan, head of the Chair of Theory and History of State and Law at Yerevan State University Gevorg Danielyan, and constitutional scholar Vardan Poghosyan were presented.

They noted that the Armenian constitution’s Article 148, which concerns the procedure for electing the Prime Minister of Armenia, can be amended by the National Assembly (NA).

Article 148 of the constitution is not an immutable article; moreover, a referendum is not required for its amendment, and therefore the adoption of the text of the amendments by the NA is necessary for amendments to this article. In the event of an initiative in that regard, the respective draft is put to a vote in the NA, and it must garner two-thirds of the votes of the total number of MPs.

Article 148 is not on the list of chapters and articles specified in the first part of Article 202 for which a referendum is mandatory.

As reported earlier, Narek Karapetyan pledged that if they win the parliamentary election in Armenia slated for June 7, twenty days after the election, they will make an amendment in the NA, with a two-thirds vote, to the constitution’s Article 148 regarding the election of the Prime Minister of Armenia, and this will enable any Armenian citizen—including Samvel Karapetyan—to be elected Prime Minister.

Under the current law, a person with Armenian citizenship only—and no other citizenship—can be elected Prime Minister of Armenia.