YEREVAN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th June, 2020) Armenian opposition party Dashnaktsutyun said on Thursday it had agreed with Prosperous Armenia and Homeland parties to create a working group to coordinate their steps within the parliament amid the ruling party's attempts to overhaul the constitutional court system.
The decision was made during a meeting of the leaders of the Prosperous Armenia and Homeland parties, Gagik Tsarukyan and Artur Vanetsyan, respectively, and Dashnaktsutyun's representative Ishkhan Sagatelyan on Wednesday after the parliament passed the reform bill.
"At the meeting, the parties discussed the internal political situation in Armenia and ways to restore the constitutional order in the country. They agreed to create a working group consisting of the three parties' representatives, which will develop a program and a roadmap for joint actions and coordination for broad consolidation," the website said.
Earlier this week, the Armenian parliament passed in its first reading the bill developed by the ruling My Step alliance to amend the constitution. The bill was slated for a public referendum in April but was subsequently repealed due to the coronavirus state of emergency implemented in the nation.
According to the 2015 constitution, the president of the court and nine judges are elected for 12-year terms. The bill seeks to terminate the powers of the court's president, which has been occupied by Hrayr Tovmasyan since 1995.
Opposition party Prosperous Armenia, which has 26 of the 132 seats in the unicameral National Assembly, boycotted voting on the bill. Parliamentary opposition leader Naira Zohrabyan told reporters on Monday that the vote is laying the foundations for a constitutional coup and a dictatorship.
Meanwhile, the Venice Commission European Commission for Democracy through Law, an independent advisory body of the Council of Europe, released a statement to express its regret that the National Assembly chose to vote on the amendments on the same day that it released its advisory notes on the matter.
While saying that the parliament's vote and the cancellation of an earlier set referendum were legitimate, it advised for a transitional period to change the makeup and structure of the Constitutional Court.
