THERE IS PROGRESS BUT EXTRA AMENDMENTS ESSENTIAL

Support A1+!

According to the agreement achieved by the working group of the Venice Commission and the RA authorities in Strasbourg June 23-24, the Armenian party had to submit the reviewed draft constitutional amendments to the Venice Commission till July 7. Constitutional right specialist Vardan Poghosyan assures that considerable changed have been inserted into the three disputable issues.

According to him, the main fault of the operating Constitution - the distortion of the principle of power division – has been preserved in the draft adopted by the NA as a basis. “After the agreement with the Venice Commission the principal problems referring to the power division were solved on the whole. The role of the government was distinctly determined”, he says. According to the amendments submitted to the Venice Commission, the government works out and applies the domestic policy; the foreign policy is being applied jointly with the President. “Thus the government has obtained organizational independence. The government convenes its sittings under the presidency of the Prime Minister. The decisions of the government are taken by its members and there is no need to ratify them”

Taking into account the logic of the presidential system, according to which the newly elected President of the republic should have certain influence upon the foreign policy, national security and defense, the project records that the President is empowered to convene the government sittings on the above mentioned issues, however the decisions are made by the government and signed by the Prime Minister. One of the most important changes is that the government will not bear double responsibility before the President and the Premier. “The Prime Minister is to account to the NA only and the President will by no means be able to dismiss the Premier. He will only have the right to make an appropriate proposal to the National Assembly while the latter is to pass decisions with the majority of votes”, Vardan Poghosyan noted.

As for the government formation, according to the agreement, the President of the republic taking into account the division of the mandates and holding consultations with the NA factions appoints the Prime Minister, who enlisted the support of the NA majority. “In any civilized country, especially if the Constitutional Court is empowered to settle disputes referring to authority of the officials, this clause will be interpreted in the following way: the President cannot appoint the Prime Minister, who does not enjoy the support of the NA majority. However, taking into considerations the fact that the political system in our republic has not been formed yet I think the mechanism of the present principle should be clarified”, Vardan Poghosyan says.

In his opinion there are several variants. Lithuanian example can be the first. The NA approved a nominee for the Prime Minister with the majority of the votes. If the parliament approves the Premier but twice votes down the program of the government, the parliament is dissolved. Second, there functions the mechanism of the non-confidence vote. If we adopt this mechanism we will solve two important tasks – stability of the government and limitation of President’s power to interfere into the process of government formation”, Vardan Poghosyan notes.

The issue of the elective post of Mayor has been also solved. “It was finally set that Yerevan is a community. According to the draft, law can provide for indirect elections of the Mayor. If we choose the democratic part we will realize that there can’t be any rivalry between the President and the Mayor, since they possess different mandates and functions”, he says. In this case the Constitution will not be an obstacle for the direct election of the Mayor.

However despite considerable progress Vardan Poghosyan considers that the draft still needs to be amended. “The structure of the government as well as the President’s authority should be precisely determined. At that the authority of the President should be reduced”, he resumed.

Victoria Abrahamyan