Armenian parliamentary commission looks into proposed constitutional changes

Arminfo, Yerevan
14 Mar 05

The Armenian parliament’s temporary commission for European
integration has considered political parties’ suggestions on changes
to the constitution pertaining to the president’s rights and
responsibilities, Armenian Arminfo news agency reported on 14 March.

The United Labour Party (ULP) believes that the current Armenian
Constitution does not specify the role of the presidency or ensure a
balance between all branches of power, the party’s representative,
Grigor Kondzheyan, said in his presentation. He said the
constitutional changes proposed by the party are intended to bridge
this and other gaps in the country’s fundamental law.

For instance, the president is the guarantor of balanced and
harmonious work of all three branches of power. He is also the
guarantor of continuity of power, he said.

The party’s document deprives the president of the right to sign the
government’s decisions or to preside over its meetings, instead giving
him the right to introduce legislation. The president can also
dissolve the parliament and appoint new elections.

The president can sack the defence and foreign ministers and appoint
others at the suggestion of the prime minister. At the same time,
parliament can decide on the president’s resignation by two-thirds of
the votes. The president can be impeached for high treason, the ULP
suggests.

The opposition-minded National Democratic Bloc suggests dramatically
renewing the state administration system, Arminfo said. The leader of
the bloc, Arshak Sadoyan, proposes to combine two chambers in the
one-chamber parliament. Thus, 30 deputies elected on the
first-past-the-post system are to set up a commission on issues of
local government and coordinate the work of local governments.

The number of MPs elected on the proportional representation system is
to be 101. If these deputies leave their party factions, they will
automatically lose their mandates.

Sadoyan also suggested increasing the number of regions to 25.

The representative of the Armenian president in the discussions, Armen
Arutyunyan, said the constitutional changes proposed by the ruling
coalition and the ULP were one step ahead of the current Armenian
Constitution. At the same time, he said the coalition’s proposals are
not hugely different from the current constitution.

A referendum on constitutional changes is due to be held in late
spring – early summer 2005.