Council Of Europe Approves Armenian Constitutional Changes
RFE/RL’s Armenia Service reports that the Council of Europe have accepted the Armenian government’s draft of constitutional ammendments scheduled to be put to referendum in November. It has also urged the opposition to also work towards their acceptance among the electorate.
The Strasbourg experts concluded that Yerevan has fulfilled its pledge to make significant changes in its constitutional package that would strip the Armenian president of his discretionary power to sack prime ministers, limit his authority to appoint judges and make the mayor of Yerevan an elected official. The pledge was formalized in an agreement signed by Armenian and Venice Commission officials in Strasbourg late last month.
Of course, acceptance of a new constitution is one thing but enforcing it is another. Some analysts also suggest that the government might be hoping that the ammendments are rejected. In their opinion, if the government were to urge voters to pass the ammendments, people would instead choose to reject them.
However, if the opposition were also to urge their acceptance now that the three main items they have lobbied hard for are included…
