In view of the nature of the people’s movement in Armenia and the demand for the smooth transfer of the political power, we believe it is essential to ensure the following legal solutions and means that may help to effectuate these demands.
It is obvious that the people’s political choice is very different from the current distribution of power in the National Assembly. Therefore, neither the National Assembly nor the bodies formed by the latter reflect the people’s will in terms of distribution of power.
Considering the aforesaid, it is obvious that there is a rupture between the formal power and the people’s power and that the fomal power (the stable majority in the NA) does not reflect the will of the people (the Forum). Therefore, in order to avoid a constitutional crisis it is necessary to ensure the exercise of the people’s power by means of free elections as prescribed by the RA Constitution. Prior to that the de facto majority in the NA must under the current political circumstances take account of the people’s (the Forum’s) power and implement the solutions put forward by the Forum, i.e. elect the people’s candidate to the position of the Prime Minister.
The process of nominating and electing the people’s candidate as Prime Minister is a political process and does not contradict the RA Constitution as it must be done in in the manner prescribed by the Constitution.
Before organising extraordinary elections to the National Assembly, it is necessary to comprehensively amend the electoral legislation, including the RA Electoral Code, other related codes, laws and sub-legislative acts in the light of the positions and recommendations of the RA Constitutional Court, as well as domestic and international observation missions aiming at the adoption of the necessary and sufficient legislative guarantees for the exercise of the right to universal, equal, free and direct suffrage, as well as effective remedies for the protection of the people’s electoral rights, without which there will be no public trust towards free and fair elections.
In order to effectively and convincingly accomplish these goals, it is necessary to:
– Establish a new Central Electoral Commission (CEC) that will enjoy the people’s trust. The new CEC must reappoint new and independent Territorial Electoral Commissions (TECs) that will play a key part in the electoral process. It is essential to form a CEC and TECs that will be independent from the political power rejected by the people and that will serve the public interest by administering free and fair elections.
– Considering the fact that the legislative requirement of classifying the signed voter lists is lifted now, it is essential to publish the signed voter lists from previous elections, including the constitutional referendum in 2015.
Europe in Law Association
