The Deadline Given to the President Has Expired: The Ball is in Ararat Mirzoyan's Court

The newspaper "Zhoghovurd" reports: "Today marks the end of the period allocated to Armenian President Armen Sarkissian for signing the amendments and additions to the constitutional law on the Constitutional Court, adopted by the National Assembly. On June 30, President Sarkissian declared that he would not sign this law, which had been accepted by the parliament in an extraordinary session and under a special 24-year regime.

According to the Constitution, the president must either sign and publish the law adopted by the National Assembly within a twenty-one day period or apply to the Constitutional Court within the same timeframe to determine the law's compliance with the Constitution, and this 21-day period expires today.

In this case, according to the law, the Speaker of the National Assembly must sign and publish the law within a five-day period, after which it will come into force.

It should be noted that according to these amendments, a new sequence for nominations for vacant positions of Constitutional Court judges is proposed: first the Government, then the President of the Republic, followed by the General Assembly of Judges, and also, those members-judges of the Constitutional Court whose powers were terminated before the expiration of the term will have the right to retire.

Once these amendments come into effect, the oldest judge, Ashot Khachatryan, will assume the responsibilities of the President of the Constitutional Court, and the nominations for judges in the vacant positions will begin."

For more details, refer to today's edition of the newspaper.