YEREVAN, AUGUST 4, ARMENPRESS. The Specialized Committee on Constitutional Reforms has published the preliminary draft of 1-15 chapters of the Constitution. “Armenpress” reports that the preliminary draft of the mentioned chapters of the Constitution has been published in the official website of Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Armenia for public debates. The 8th chapter of the preliminary draft of the Constitution refers to Prosecution and Investigative agencies. The 9th chapter refers to local governments and defines that the communities may merge into inter-community unions aimed to increase their productiveness. Inter-community unions can also be formed by law for public interest. The National Assembly is obliged to hear the opinion of those communities when adopting the respective law. Chapter 10 defines the functions and responsibilities of the Human Rights Defender. The Human Rights Defender is an independent official who is responsible for ensuring non violation of human rights by state and local authorities. The Human Rights Defender is endowed with immunity defined for deputies.

Chapter 11 outlines provisions about formation of the Central Electoral Commission. According to the draft the CEC is comprised of 7 members. The President of the CEC and the other members are elected by the National Assembly by qualified majority voting (3/5 of votes) and for 6 years.

Chapter 13 refers to the Control Chamber of Armenia. “The Control Chamber has a right to perform inspections of legal entities only if the state has a considerable contribution in it or if they have received funds from the state”, is said in the draft. According to the draft the Control Chamber is comprised of 7 members. The President of the Control Chamber and the other members are elected by the National Assembly by qualified majority voting (3/5 of votes) and for 6 years. It is defined that the members of the Control Chamber cannot be member of any party or be engaged in politics by any forms.

Chapter 14 refers to the activities of the Central Bank. In contrast to the current Constitution, when the President of the Central Bank is appointed by the NA with the proposal of the President of the Republic, the draft defines that the President of the Central Bank  is directly elected by the National Assembly by qualified majority voting (3/5 of votes) and for 6 years.

Chapter 15 refers to the adoption of the Constitution, amendment and referendum. According the draft Constitution at least 1/3 of the deputies, the Government or 200 thousand citizens eligible for voting can initiate a referendum. At least 2/3 of the deputies are required to put a bill to referendum. Article 206 defines the cases of prohibition to hold a referendum, according to which referendum cannot be held during martial or emergency laws.

See the main provisions of the 1-7 articles of the Constitutional reforms here.