A petition was been submitted to the Constitutional Court of Armenia that Judge Vahe Grigoryan not attend the court consideration of the opposition political forces' appeal demanding the annulment of the June 27decision of the Central Electoral Commission.

The petition was submitted by the representative of the opposition Zartonk (Awakening) Party Ara Zohrabyan. He reminded that Grigoryan was the representative of the ruling Civil Contract Party (CCP) leader—and acting PM—Nikol Pashinyan at the ECHR, and the CCP is a third party during the examination of this appeal. Thus, according to him, there is a legitimate doubt in Vahe Grigoryan's bias.

The president of the Constitutional Court, Arman Dilanyan, inquired whether Zohrabyan was aware that the opposition "Armenia" bloc—led by second President Robert Kocharyan—also had submitted a similar petition. Zohrabyan replied that he knew about it from the media, but the grounds for this appeal were different.

In turn, the representative of the "Hayastan" bloc, lawyer Aram Vardevanyan, stated that his respective petition was different. He said that the bloc believes that Grigoryan has a prejudiced attitude towards the leaders of the "Armenia" bloc and personally against second President Robert Kocharyan. The representative of this bloc supported the aforesaid petition.

Constitutional Court Judge Hrayr Tovmasyan said he believes that it is impossible to examine the issue at this stage, as it should have been examined at the stage of accepting the case, whereas that stage has already passed.

CCP representative, Acting Minister of Justice Rustam Badasyan did not agree with the content of this petition and opposed it.

Ara Zohrabyan recalled that when the case was being accepted, the CCP was not a third party, and therefore, there was no basis for this petition at that time.

Constitutional Court Judge Yervand Khundkaryan agreed with Judge Tovmasyan, and reminded that this issue can be raised by the court judge, and the issue of non-participation cannot be considered at this stage.

Judge Vahe Grigoryan, for his part, stated that if the Constitutional Court decides that it can consider the issue, he is ready to present his position. According to him, the issue was discussed at the working session, and he advised Zohrabyan to get familiarized with it. The issue was discussed and received one vote in favor, added Grigoryan.

Constitutional Court Judge Arevik Petrosyan also noted that the issue is also being discussed within the framework of other cases (i.e., Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code), the respective practice is that the parties can submit such a petition, but it is altogether another matter what the Constitutional Court will decide.

Judge Arthur Vagharshyan considered that the petition should be denied.

Summing up, Constitutional Court President Arman Dilanyan noted that the petition was discussed in terms of content, and there is an obstacle in terms of form and practice. As a result, he proposed not to consider the petition.

And most of the Constitutional Court judges agreed not to consider this petition.