Armenia has constitutional amendments in agenda

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament Ararat Mirzoyan has announced that they have an agenda regarding constitutional amendments. However, the amendments will not include large-scale changes such as transition from parliamentary to semi-presidential governance.

“Constitutional amendments are possible, although I think not the kind of large-scale changes that will make the country a semi-presidential one from parliamentary”, he told reporters today. “We have constitutional amendments in our agenda. The circle is now being specified. In this process we saw that there are gaps, situations when the constitution isn’t regulating and deadlocks are possible. We must study this all,” Mirzoyan said.

Asked if the amendments will include a revision of the President’s powers, the Speaker said perhaps they will. He said it will definitely include a revision of the Electoral Code.

The Speaker emphasized that he doesn’t favor a transition to a semi-presidential model at all.

With the 1995 Constitution, Armenia was a full presidential country. The Constitution was first amended in 2005, with the country becoming a semi-presidential one. Then, in 2015, it was amended and three years later Armenia transitioned to a parliamentary system of governance.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan