"Armenia" and "I Have Honor" propose to Armen Sarkissian to challenge  controversial law on communities` enlargement in Constitutional Court 

ArmInfo.The "Armenia" and "I Have the Honor" opposition parliamentary factions proposed to the RA President Armen Sarkissian to challenge the controversial law on  the enlargement of communities in the Constitutional Court.

Thus, in the statement released by the opposition forces, it is  recalled that at an extraordinary meeting of the National Assembly on  September 24, 2021, without preliminary hearings, discussions,  without taking into account the views of the parliamentary opposition  and heads of communities, a package of draft laws on amendments and  additions to the "Law on the Administrative-Territorial Division of  the Republic of Armenia" was hastily adopted.

It is also stated that in connection with the controversial process  of consolidation of communities, the "Armenia" and "I Have the Honor"  factions appealed to President Armen Sarkissian with a proposal to  use the right and potential determined by part 1 of Article 129 of  the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia to apply to the  Constitutional Court to determine compliance in the implementation of  this solutions.

"The reasons, which are about 8 pages long, list the factors and  arguments that may become the basis for the President's appeal to the  Constitutional Court.

It should be noted that, unlike other subjects who have the right to  appeal to the Constitutional Court, the President of Armenia is  authorized to exercise preliminary constitutional control, that is,  to challenge the law adopted in the Constitutional Court before it is  signed, which prevents the introduction of an unconstitutional law  with many negative consequences, " said in a statement.

To recall, on September 8, the government approved a package of  amendments to the law "On the administrative-territorial division of  the Republic of Armenia" and "On local self-government", according to  which, as a result of the unification of 441 communities in Armenia,  there will be 37 communities. The remaining 404 communities will have  the status of a settlement, where instead of the head of the  community, there will be an administrative representative, and the  head and the Council of Elders of the enlarged community will manage  the budget. After the completion of the entire process, there will be  77 enlarged communities in Armenia, not counting Yerevan.

The process started in 2016, then, as a result of the unification of  486 communities, 54 enlarged communities were created. At this stage,  among the enlarging communities there are those that have already  been enlarged in the past, this time new communities will be added to  them.

The bill was passed by parliament on 24 September. Now, according to  the document, in all 37 newly formed communities, even if the term of  office of the head of the community has not expired, elections to the  Council of Elders on party lists will be held in the near future. The  candidate for the party with the highest number of votes will lead  the community. We also add that on September 8, at a government  meeting, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that there is a decision  of the Constitutional Court that holding a local referendum on this  issue is unconstitutional and consolidation as a political process  will be decided only in the area of the National Assembly - the  government. The political decision has already been made, the prime  minister said.