The cards were laid out today. We found out why the My Step faction of the National Assembly wants to bypass the Constitutional Court with a bill. This is what ex-deputy minister of justice Artur Hovhannisyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am today.

“The main idea of the bills on the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, on referendum and on the Constitutional Court is to have the amendments that can be made to the Constitution be made in the form of a law, not through a referendum. During a discussion in the National Assembly, the National Assembly had to send the law to the Constitutional Court for an opinion and to determine the compliance of the law with the Constitution, and then the law would be sent to the President, who would either sign it or send it to the Constitutional Court. Now those two paths to the Constitutional Court are being closed through this legislative initiative. So, today the cards were laid out, and we learned that this concerns the amendment to the transitional provisions of Article 213 of the Constitution which states that members of the Constitutional Court shall continue to serve after entry into force of the Constitution according to the amendments of 2015,” he stated.

According to Hovhannisyan, the bill will be recognized as unconstitutional, if it is sent to the Constitutional Court. “Now the National Assembly wants to change the transitional provisions by law, not referendum, and say that they will continue to serve, but their powers are being terminated.  This is the goal of the legislative initiative that is completely unconstitutional, anti-state and will entail serious consequences for Armenia.”

According to the ex-deputy minister, if the bill is adopted, then there will at least be a response from the Venice Commission, which will say that the stability of the Constitutional Court has to be ensured. He also doesn’t rule out a discussion on the issue of Armenia in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, just like the discussion on the issue of Poland.