Monday, August 31 2015 15:44

Regardless the drawbacks, the new draft constitution is considered to be a step forward from the perspective of law and in comparison to previous similar documents, member of the Constitutional Court Kim Balayan said during a press-conference in Yerevan.

From his point of view, the professional commission on constitutional reforms did not implement the president's order to change the main law. "Instead of amending and modernizing it, the experts elaborated a new Constitution"- he stated. In addition, the member of CC considers the present draft constitutional reforms to be more correct in terms of realization of citizens' rights. "In the framework of the draft the citizens' rights to choose their fate is recovered, that is to say, if 150 thousand signatures are collected any bothering communal issue will be reconsidered through referendum, which is considered to be the best expression of democracy", he states.

The expert mentioned the issues of assurance of security in military conditions and dependence of judicial system to be the drawbacks of the draft. In the first place he considered unclear that in the country of parliamentarian ruling system the responsibility of security issues are put on the executive power. In case of judicial system Balayan stated that appointment of judges of higher judicial bodies and enactment by the parliament strengthens the dependence of judges on the legal body.

The draft constitutional reforms initiated by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan imply a switch to a parliamentary regime. According to the new draft Constitution, the Prime Minister becomes the commander-in-chief in the times of war.  The President becomes an arbitrator assuring natural implementation of the Constitution of the country. The President is elected by a board consisting of parliamentarians and representatives of local administrations, then he/she appoints the Prime Minister represented by the Parliamentary Majority.  The President shall be non- partisan and can be elected for seven years one term only. The Parliament is formed by means of proportional elections and consists of at least 101 members. 
To recall, on August 20, the Commission for Constitutional Reforms approved the draft constitutional reforms and the rationale, and then submitted them to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. On August 21, Serzh Sargsyan submitted the draft reforms for consideration of the Parliament. The President held consultations with the representatives of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Orinats Yerkir Party and ARF Dashnaktsutyun. The Armenian National Congress rejected the invitation to attend the consultations.