The Constitutional reforms will bring the Armenian judiciary to full independence, which is sensational for our country, Feliks Tokhyan, a member of Constitutional Court, said during an August 12 press conference.
The presidential institute, he says, is established, the same is true for the legislative and executive branches. However, the judiciary is still dependent. The fact that the new constitution envisages the new judge to be appointed by the independent Chief Judiciary Council is unprecedentedly favourable.
He also commented on the PACE Venetian Committee's proposal to renounce the two-round parliamentary elections. "Let people choose the parliamentary majority instead of allowing the winning powers to form it and then start playing behind people's back", he says. According to Tokhyan, the offered draft constitution envisages the unprecedented opportunity to contemplate pluralism of opinions in Parliament.
The professional Committee on Constitutional Reforms has published the 15 chapters of the RA draft Constitution on August 4. The first 7 Chapters of the draft Constitution were published on July 15, which resulted in equivocal reactions among the Armenian society, experts and political forces. 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.