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Constitutional Amendments Concept Rules Out Referendum Next Year - V

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  • Constitutional Amendments Concept Rules Out Referendum Next Year - V

    CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS CONCEPT RULES OUT REFERENDUM NEXT YEAR - VARDAN POGHOSYAN

    15:00 * 14.10.14

    The Venice Commission approved the draft concept of constitutional
    amendments.

    The document will soon be available on the Venice Commission website
    and will be submitted to Armenia's president, Vardan Poghosyan,
    a member of the Commission for Constitutional Reforms, told Tert.am.

    Thereafter, Armenia's president is supposed to sign a decree approving
    the draft concept.

    "How long the process will take depends on the country's president
    and on the expected political process because, besides being a legal
    document, the concept has political components. So the president has
    to hold political consultations with the country's major political
    forces," Mr Poghosyan said.

    If the president approves the draft concept, the Commission for
    Constitutional Amendments has 10 months to draft a reform package.

    As to political forces' stances on parliamentary government, he said:

    "The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D)
    party clearly stated its support for both constitutional reforms and
    parliamentary government. The Prosperous Armenia and Heritage parties'
    positions are different. In 2012, they demanded constitutional
    amendments and parliamentary government. Now, however, they are
    showing a negative attitude to the process of reforms. The Armenian
    National Congress (ANC) party has always been against. As to the ruling
    Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the country's president as RPA
    leader undertook the initiative and the party is for constitutional
    amendments. On the other hand, the RPA is not unanimous on the
    government system."

    With respect to the enhancement of political minorities' role envisaged
    by the draft concept, and the non-parliamentary forces' position, Mr
    Poghosyan said that they initiated discussions with the parliamentary
    forces and some non-parliamentary forces.

    However, he finds it difficult to comment on the non-parliamentary
    forces' attitude.

    "One thing is obvious: the strengthening of the parliamentary
    opposition's role will promote the development of democracy. The Venice
    Commission highly praised those proposals in its latest conclusion,
    hailing the desire to raise the political opposition's role," he said.

    As for the referendum, Poghosyan said that they do not have any
    specific timeframes for now. "If the draft concept receives the
    president's approval, the constitutional commission is obliged,
    within 10 days, to elaborate the corresponding text of the reforms to
    proceed with the process at the National Assembly. The president of
    the republic is to apply to the National Assembly with an initiative
    on constitutional reforms. A minimum three-month period is needed
    for those debates, so it will be put to a referendum only after the
    National Assembly gives its approval. Hence my opinion is that 2015
    is totally ruled as a as far as the reforms are concerned," he added.

    Armenian News - Tert.am

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