On 21 May, the chairman of the Armenian parliamentary committee on foreign relations Ruben Rubinyan said that Armenia’s political leadership was no longer insisting on replacing most members of the Constitutional Court (CC) and is ready to settle for less radical change in the court’s composition following Armenian Justice Minister Rustam Badsyan decision to address the Venice Commission on the matter, reported the Armenian Radio Free Europe.
According to Rubinyan the government is specifically seeking Venice Commission advice on an alternative solution to the “constitutional crisis.” It essentially boils down to ensuring that no Constitutional Court judge can serve for more than 12 years. Under the proposed scenario revealed by Rubinyan, the CC chairman Hrayr Tovmasyan would have to resign only as head of the country’s highest court and would remain one of its nine judges. The next chairman would be chosen by the majority of those judges for a six-year term.
The government expects to receive the Venice Commission’s response in the coming month. Rubinyan implied that in the case of a positive reaction from Strasbourg, the government would move to enact relevant constitutional amendments through parliament.
The head of the majority My Step faction in the National Assembly Lilit Makuknts stated that parliament would hear from many different points of view, including contradictory ones in order to resolve the issue. “…I suggest that we wait, first of all, for the response to the inquiry sent to the Venice Commission, and then we will present our position on how we will move forward,” she said.
The leader of the Bright Armenia faction Edmon Marukyan said that his party would participate in the discussions if a bill was presented. “When the Bright Armenia faction was telling them that they are committing an unlawful act and was asking them why they are engaging the people and not committing that act with the 88 members of the ruling faction, the members of the ruling My Step faction would get offended. Now they have probably decided to commit the unlawful act with those 88 members. Let them introduce the bill. If it’s unlawful, we’ll go against it,” he said, adding that the authorities haven’t consulted on the issue of the Constitutional Court with the opposition factions.
The Armenian Hraparak Daily newspaper, which is known to be close to the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia, speculated that the Venice Commission would only give consent to the Armenian authorities for only 3 judges within the National Assembly by making constitutional amendments in a short time under the assumption that the balance of power within the CC would change.
On 16 May, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the government delayed the referendum on the CC indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “It is obvious to me that we cannot conduct a referendum by May 2021 but neither we can wait for so long, consequently, there is no problem for us and our international partners to regulate our work and get effective solutions via consensus,” he said.The government critics in Armenia claimed that the decision to abandon the holding of the referendum derived from the government’s loss of popular support due to the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the assertion that Pashinyan’s faction would lose if the referendum would take place.
On 6 February, Armenia’s parliament decided to hold a referendum on constitutional changes, which was scheduled to take place in April, and which foresaw the dismissal of seven of the nine members of the CC who are locked in a bitter dispute with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government. Representatives of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) urged the Armenian authorities to consult with legal experts from the Strasbourg-based organization before enacting controversial constitutional changes (Caucasus Watch reported).
