On 6 February, Armenia’s parliament decided to hold a referendum on constitutional changes that would dismiss seven of the nine members of the Constitutional Court (CC) who are locked in a bitter dispute with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government. 

The decision was unanimously backed by virtually all My Step deputies in parliament (88 of 132 seats). Lawmakers representing the opposition Bright Armenia Party (LHK) voted against it while their colleagues from the other parliamentary opposition party, Prosperous Armenia (BHK), did not vote at all. The My Step faction leader Lillit Makunts said that the referendum would take place by 5 April.

Addressing the National Assembly shortly before the vote, Pashinyan strongly defended the amendments rejected as unconstitutional by opposition deputies. He again accused Constitutional Court Chairman Hrayr Tovmasyan and six other judges installed by former Armenian governments from 1995-2018 of being linked to the “corrupt former regime.” “The Constitutional Court represents the corrupt regime of [former President] Serzh Sargsyan, rather than the people, and it must go,” he declared. 

Pashinyan also claimed that Armenia’s highest court “limits the people’s power” and poses a “terrible and direct threat to democracy.” “Its legal powers must, therefore, be superseded by “sovereign rights of the people,” he said. He went on to warn his political opponents against attempting to thwart the constitutional changes through legal or other mechanisms, saying that they would be declared “anti-state” elements in that case.

The warning prompted an angry response from LHK leader Edmon Marukyan, who accused Pashinyan of “blackmail.” “Is it you who decides who are anti-state forces and who are patriots? Is this the ‘democracy’ you dream about?” Marukian asked him on the parliament floor. Marukian reaffirmed his party’s view that the draft amendments run counter to other articles of the Armenian constitution. He also noted that the current Constitutional Court consists of judges appointed under different governments. “This is an important safeguard for the court’s independence,” he said.

Another senior LHK figure, Taron Sahakyan, insisted that under Armenian law the amendments cannot be put through a referendum without being examined and endorsed by the Constitutional Court. Parliament majority leaders gave no indications that they intended to submit the amendments to the court for approval before setting a referendum date. They cited articles of the constitution which make no reference to such validation.

The My Step deputies hinted that the decision to hold the referendum should be endorsed instead by President Armen Sarkissian. Pashinyan stated that he already agreed in principle with Sarkissian regarding the holding of the vote (Caucasus Watch reported). The president has made no public statements on the matter so far.

Parallel to the voting in the Parliament, Tovmasyan organized a reception to mark the 24th anniversary of the founding of the CC. “In all times the Constitutional Court promoted the strengthening of our state. With its decisions and its activity it contributed to the strengthening of democracy and legal state in the country,” Tovmasyan said. “[A] hundred meters away from us a process is taking place, the assessment to which will be given by history. I do not want to refer to it at all,” he added, telling the judges that everything would be fine in the end. “The incumbent authorities will have to garner 648,285 votes in order to make an amendment to the Constitution through a referendum,“ wrote on Facebook  Tovmasyan’s lawyer Amram Makinyan.

Representatives of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) urged the Armenian authorities to consult with legal experts from the Strasbourg-based organization before enacting controversial constitutional changes. “The proposed changes could have long-term repercussions on the functioning of constitutional institutions. In this context, as well as taking into account some of the questions raised in that respect, we call on the Armenian authorities to request as soon as possible, the opinion of the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s expert body on constitutional law. We believe that this opinion, which could be adopted very quickly via an urgent procedure, would be valuable to all stakeholders, including the Armenian electorate if a referendum were to be held,” stated the PACE co-rapporteurs.

Other Armenian public figures also reacted to the decision to hold the referendum. “We state that the legislature’s decision to designate a referendum is an overt violation of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia and constitutional legislation. Attaching importance to the mechanisms of direct democracy, we also insist that those mechanisms cannot be applied arbitrarily and illegitimately. This will not only undermine the foundations of a legal state but will also create a weighty precedent for violation of rights,“ read the joint statement issued by the first Armenian Ombudsman  Larisa Alaverdyan, President of the Helsinki Committee of Armenia Avetik Ishkhanyan and lawyer Ruben Melikyan. 

The former Chief of Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) Artur Vanetsyan also gave his opinion on the current developments around the Constitutional Court. On 5 February, he announced his entry into Armenia’s political life and added that his refusal to “participate in developments unfolding around the Constitutional Court” was one of the main reasons for stepping down as Armenia’s NSS chief. Two weeks earlier, Vanetsyan wrote on Twitter that the possibility of a new candidate for the post of the Prime Minister should be discussed in Armenia (Caucasus Watch reported).

The former deputy head of the National Assembly of Armenia Arsen Babayan, who on 21 October was arrested on suspicion of aiding the usurpation of power in Armenia (Caucasus Watch reported), also voiced his opinion. “The goal is not to hold a referendum or amend the Constitution. Thus, as it became clear from yesterday’s speech by the Prime Minister of Armenia, another issue is being resolved - judges of the Constitutional Court are simply intimidated, urging them to hurry up with the decision on retirement while the Law on Early Retirement is in force. They are basically being told that otherwise, a referendum will be held and they will somehow be left behind,” he said.

In addition, Babayan believed that eventually, these violations would become the basis for criminal cases. “We are dealing with the classic overthrow of the constitutional order. Recently, we have become witnesses to the neutralization of the Constitutional Court. Three branches of government should take part in the process of adoption of amendments to the Constitution - executive, legislative and judicial. The actions of anyone who illegally resorts to steps not provided for by the Constitution will act [to keep ensure one] branches is out of the process, will lead to the overthrow of the constitutional order, which is an act stipulated by the Criminal Code,” he noted.

The Armenian newspaper Hraparak claimed that Pashinyans’s speech at the parliament was written by the CC judge Vahe Grigoryan. Hraparak’s source said that Pashinyan just added phrases specific to him to the text written by Grigoryan. In his turn, director of Yerkir Media TV’s news and social-political programs Gegham Manukyan claimed that the author of the bill on constitutional changes is not Vahagn Hovakimyan but Vahe Grigoryan. Grigoryan was elected as a new member of Armenia’s Constitutional Court judge on 18 June 2019. Two days after being elected, he declared that he can now also act as chairman of this institution (Caucasus Watch reported). Since then, Grigoryan has not made any public statements regarding the Constitutional Court, nor allegedly been engaged in the work of it.