The ruling “My Step” faction will put to a referendum the question of terminating the tenure of Hrayr Tovmasyan and six other members of the Constitutional Court.
The ruling deputies have initiated constitutional amendments under an article that could also be adopted by a vote of the National Assembly deputies, but, as chief rapporteur Vahagn Hovakimyan explained, they want to hear the people.
“The ‘My Step’ faction will not adopt this draft in the first reading, and by the authority given to the National Assembly under point 3 of Article 202 of the Constitution, it will propose putting to a vote the decision to submit this draft to a nationwide referendum. This is simply the application of direct democracy. As we have said, we believe in our people, and we have things to say and to hear from our people,” Hovakimyan said.
Vahagn Hovakimyan justified their proposal by saying that they believe the Constitutional Court is the state body enjoying the lowest public trust, and one of their goals is the restoration of trust: “Because the public, in the person of today’s Constitutional Court, sees that Constitutional Court which for years was stamping, confirming the beatings, the massacres, the falsification of elections, saying, well, it’s fine, something minor happened, they falsified a bit, they did this and that, but it did not affect the results. In 2008 as well, let’s say they killed ten people, they falsified…”
He also touched upon the election of the Constitutional Court president through “juggling tricks,” when Tovmasyan, assuming office before the 2015 Constitution fully entered into force, received the opportunity to serve not 6 but 18 years.
According to Hovakimyan, former representative of the Republican Party and author of the 2015 Constitution, Hrayr Tovmasyan was simply appointed president of the Constitutional Court: “After the Velvet Revolution, Hrayr Tovmasyan continued to act as a representative of his political team; he continued to act as a political opponent of the authorities elected by the will of the people of the Republic of Armenia.”
