CONSTITUTIONAL COURT WILL GUARANTEE DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS
A1+
[04:42 pm] 06 October, 2006
AS IN 2003?
Representatives of the Constitutional Courts of 11 countries, the CE,
the OSCE, and the European Court of Human Rights, as well as a number
of other structures have gathered in Yerevan in order to discuss how
the Constitutional Courts can guarantee democratic elections.
The representatives of Bulgaria, Romania, France, Germany, Belarus,
Lithuania, Cyprus and other countries will try to represent the
experience of their countries. But the Constitutional Court of Armenia
is also experienced. After the 2003 Presidential elections the RA CC
decided that the voters can organize a Referendum of Confidence. In
spite of the efforts of the opposition, the authorities did not
organize it. "A1+" tried to find out if this affected the reputation
of the CC.
Head of the OSCE Yerevan office, Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin said,
"The question is a difficult one. I wouldn’t like to say that the
situation affected the reputation of the CC. But I can recall that
the decision of the Court referred to the course of the elections
in general. As for the Referendum of Confidence, it was the 16th
provision of the decision which was a piece of advice in itself. I
don’t think it was violated and I don’t think it has affected the
CC in any way. I think it was a sincere decision which displayed the
high competence of the CC".
Representatives of the opposition and parliamentary powers were
also invited to today’s discussion. Former Speaker of the NA Khosrov
Haroutyunyan said, "We must support the Constitutional Court and not be
angry with them. We can only criticize if needed. The Constitutional
Court and the constitutional justice are things which we need greatly
today".