New Constitution bill fills gaps in previous texts – jurist
The draft text of Armenia’s new Constitution is a completely legitimate document bridging all the gaps that have so far existed, a member of the Constitutional Court said today, considering the recently published bill a new step towards democracy strengthening.
At a news conference on Monday, Kim Balayan described the draft as a major step towards realizing Armenia’s 1990 Declaration of Independence. He said he believes that the proposed amendments are an attempt to return power to the people, making them participants in key decision-making processes through a referendum.
Meantime he emphasized the constitution’s role in state development and democracy strengthening processes.
“From that point of view, the Republic of Armenia had its first Constitution in 1995. I said then and keep saying now that the Constitution was illegitimate, as we had adopted a Declaration of Independence clearly vesting the Supreme Council with exceptional authority to act on behalf of the Republic of Armenia,” he said.
Asked how then he later acted in support of what he now calls an illegitimate Constitution, Balayan pointed out to the Constitution’s binding force as a supreme law obliging abidance by its provisions.
Asked what new norms were added to the latest draft, the lawyer noted that the provision outlining people’s direct role in government formation (through elections) had a declarative character in the previous text. The new bill proposes exercising that right through a referendum, he added. “Now, in case of 150,000 signatures, any key question can be put to a referendum. So the people have a real opportunity to dictate the authorities their will,” he added.
Balayan said he doesn’t think that the bill on agenda should be perceived as a reform. “There is no text on reforms. From the legal point of view, this is not a bill proposing constitutional reforms; this is a new constitution bill,” he added.
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