YEREVAN. – Vahagn Hovakimyan, a member of the majority My Step faction in the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, has proposed amendments to Article 141 of the NA Rules of Procedure, which specifies the procedure for the election of judges to the Constitutional Court.

Hovakimyan’s respective draft notes that the regulations for these elections are such that they artificially delay the process.

According to the argument, in the event of a Constitutional Court judge's resignation, if that happens at the end of the spring session of parliament, the constitutional body nominating a judge for the Constitutional Court will also fulfill its obligation, however, because of the current regulation of the National Assembly Rules of Procedure, the seat of a judge of the Constitutional Court will remain vacant for more than four months.

As per Hovakimyan, the purpose of this amendment is to enable the parliament to organize, if necessary, a special session of parliament to elect the Constitutional Court judge. Thus, the process of filling the vacancy of a Constitutional Court judge will not be delayed by purely formal regulations.

Under the current law, the issue of the election of a judge to the Constitutional Court is debated in the regular sessions of the National Assembly after the nomination of a candidate.

The MP proposes to replace the word "regular" with the word "next," which will give an opportunity to discuss the issue of the vacancy of the Constitutional Court judge also at a special sitting of the National Assembly.