On 7 July, the RA President Armen Sarkissian met with a group of members of the Specialized Commission on Constitutional Reforms.
The Minister of Justice Rustam Badasian, Chairman of the commission, Armenia’s representative at the European Court of Human Rights Yeghishe Kirakossian, legal scholars Anahit Manassian and Armen Mazmanian, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association NGO Karen Zadoyan, and Head of the Union of Informed Citizens consulting NGO Daniel Ioannissian attended the meeting
The President of Armenia stressed once again the imperative of constitutional changes and welcomed creation by the Prime Minister of such an expert commission. “You, as a commission, will be dealing with the one of the most important for our country issues – reforms to our number one law,” President Sarkissian said.
The participants of the meeting spoke in particular about the works of the commission, process of the document drafting and presented their observations.
Mr. Karen Zadoyan, President of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, expressed his opinion noting that first of all, the adoption of the new Constitution should solve the problem of legitimacy, ensure inclusive participation of citizens in the process of amending the Constitution, ensuring the election of a parliamentary or presidential administration to the citizens, ensuring the participation of the citizens in the adoption of important public decisions through the available and accessible direct democracy tools, as well as the provision of an anti-corruption body(ies) among the independent constitutional bodies.