Ashot Khachatryan to Temporarily Assume Duties of Constitutional Court President, According to Parliament Announcement

On June 26, 2020, amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, adopted by the National Assembly on June 22, came into force. Article 213 of the Constitution has been rephrased as follows: The term of office of a member of the Constitutional Court or a judge who has served for a total of not less than 12 years until the entry into force of Chapter 7 of the Constitution is deemed to have expired, and the office shall cease (Article 213, part 1).

This information was provided by the press service of the National Assembly.

Taking into account that the personal files of the judges (members) of the Constitutional Court are kept and managed by the National Assembly of Armenia, and after reviewing the documents present in those files, we inform that the office of the following judges (members) of the Constitutional Court has ceased according to the established rules:

• Hrant Aray Nazaryan, whose total term of office as a member of the Constitutional Court or judge until June 26, 2020, has exceeded 24 years.
• Felix Papini Tohyan, whose total term of office as a member of the Constitutional Court or judge until June 26, 2020, has exceeded 22 years.
• Alvina Balabek Gulumyan, whose total term of office as a member of the Constitutional Court or judge until June 26, 2020, has exceeded 12 years.

According to part 3 of Article 213 of the Constitution, appointments for the three vacant positions of judges of the Constitutional Court must be made successively by the Government, the President of the Republic, and the General Assembly of Judges within a two-month period starting from June 27, 2020.

We also inform that according to part 4 of Article 213 of the Constitution, the term of office of Hrayr Vardany Tovmasyan as President of the Constitutional Court has ceased. According to part 4 of Article 13 of the Constitution, the President of the Constitutional Court must be elected according to the procedure established by Article 166 of the Constitution, and the election must take place after filling the vacant positions of the judges of the Constitutional Court.

Given that the President of the Constitutional Court has not yet been elected and that Alvina Balabek Gulumyan's term of office as a member of the Constitutional Court (judge) has ceased in accordance with part 1 of Article 213 of the Constitution, the duties of the President of the Constitutional Court will be carried out by the oldest judge of the Constitutional Court.

As of June 26, 2020, the oldest judge of the Constitutional Court is Ashot Khachatryan, born on September 10, 1962.