06
06, 2018

Statement of the Presidential Administration regarding RA President’s appeal to the Constitutional Court

Recently, different expert discussions on the details and timeframe of the process of nominating judges for the Constitutional Court have been underway. According to the RA Constitution, the details for designation and nomination of the candidatures of the judges for the Constitutional Court, including the timeframe, are not specified and their definition is strictly linked to two legal acts, i.e. to the RA constitutional law on the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia and the Judicial Code of the RA.

To execute the mentioned above requirement of the Constitution, the RA constitutional law on the Constitutional Court designates for the completion of the mentioned process six months. It means that the legislature took note that the mentioned process might take up to six months, and this timeframe is envisaged by the legal act which, according to the constitutional requirements, could designate the mentioned period of time. However, the RA constitutional law on the Statute of the National Assembly envisages one-month and ten-day timeframe in which case the constitutional and legal base, as well as expediency and reasonable justification, in our opinion, are missing.
It should also be noted that a six-month period is reasonable and logical also because the designation and nomination of the candidature for the Constitutional Court judges comprises three different procedures in three different bodies.

Taking into consideration procedures adopted at the Constitutional Court and the framework of responsibilities and duties of the judges stemming from them, as well as approaches adopted in the international practice, nomination of the candidatures of the judge of the Constitutional Court cannot and should not be carried out in such a limited period of time and without a due inspective process. The opposite approach by itself can undermine the essence of the entire process. Considering the mission and duties of the judges of the Constitutional Court, the administration of such process in a six-month timeframe is more than reasonable and logical.

At the same time, the timeframe in question, envisaged by the RA constitutional law on the Statute of the National Assembly, is not only problematic from the viewpoint of reason but, as it was mentioned before, creates problems for compatibility with the Constitution, since the Constitution clearly outlines the legal acts which should have spelled out the mentioned details which is impossible to do through the RA constitutional law on the Statute of the National Assembly but solely through RA constitutional law on the Constitutional Court and Judicial Code of the Republic of Armenia.

Based on the this and other arguments presented in the relevant appeal and guided by the authority invested in the President of Armenia by the Constitution, the President of Armenia has applied today to the Constitutional Court to establish the conformity of the mentioned legal acts with the Constitution of the Republic.
 

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