Parliament majority introduces new bill on replacing justices appointed under previous constitution

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. The parliament majority My Step bloc has introduced a new bill which would enable the replacement of most justices in the Constitutional Court.

The bill envisages amending Paragraph 213 of the current Constitution with, particularly, the following sentence. “The tenure of the Constitutional Court Chairman and Members who were appointed before the initiation of Chapter 7 of the Constitution is being terminated”.

Parliament will then hold confirmation hearings for new justices upon nominations from the Cabinet, the President and the General Assembly of Judges.

The parliament majority had introduced a similar bill earlier on February 5 and parliament was set top debate it today, but the rulin bloc retracted the initial version of the bill and the sitting was cancelled. Then, the Speaker announced that the parliament majority has again introduced a new bill with the similar content. The Council of the National Assembly convened to discuss convening a special session for debating the bill.

44 lawmakers of the ruling bloc have signed the bill.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan