According to Article 139 of the Constitution, the President has the right to return—with objections—the draft decree to the body that submitted the proposal. Vahagn Hovakimyan, an MP of the majority My Step faction in the National Assembly of Armenia, on Sunday wrote this on Facebook

"At first glance, it may seem that [President] Armen Sarkissian used his above-mentioned power yesterday when returning—with his objections—to the Prime Minister the draft decree on the dismissal of the head of the GS [General Staff of the Armed Forces]. But this is not the case at all.

The President may not arbitrarily return the draft decrees to the proposing body whenever he wishes.

In the current situation, the Prime Minister, with the power given to him by the Constitution (Article 155), proposed to dismiss the head of the GS from the office he holds. Even a man with the most mystical imagination cannot see elements of unconstitutionality, even seemingly, in this process.

In fact, we are dealing with a case of the President’s arbitrary exercise of his powers, which is inadmissible. By exercising his powers arbitrarily, the President can undermine the security of the state, push the country toward destabilization, evaporate the legislative reforms, and so on.

In recent times, Armen Sarkissian's steps seem to be aimed at causing the above-mentioned negative consequences. Therefore, it can be stated that there are apparent grounds for starting the process of dismissal of Armen Sarkissian, based on the gross violation of the Constitution (Article 141)," Hovakimyan added.