YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Armenia’s Constitutional Court again clarified its April 15–2003 decision recommending a vote of confidence in the president–in an effort to end attempts to exploit the decision in "pursuit of political goals," stemming from "unawareness of constitutional justice," it said in a statement.
Issued on Monday–the statement stresses that the Constitutional Court upheld the country’s Central Electoral Commission decision on the results of presidential elections–and that the decision is final and binding; it also spelled-out the nature and rationale of its suggestion for a vote of confidence.
"When regulating a national conflict–the Constitutional Court must not only provide a concrete legal solution–but must also outline (keeping in mind the country’s legal and democratic development) realistic legal means for regulating social and political issues. The Constitutional Court stressed in its decision that since possible confrontation could greatly endanger the country–the conflict must be overcome democratically. One of the suggested methods was to hold a [presidential] referendum of confidence–which supposes direct utilization of democratic potentials. The proposal was underlined as a non-compulsory proposal–bearing no legal consequences."
The statement also emphasizes that that it made no decision on the constitutionality of the Law on Referendums–allowing the National Assembly (NA) to pursue the issue–taking into consideration the NA’s commitmen’s before the Council of Europe that call for reforms of election laws.
"More than 110 Constitutional Courts currently operate throughout world–and their decisions–without exception–include both mandatory decisions and non-compulsory recommendations.
Thus–the Constitutional Court of Armenia requests that its decision be viewed only from a legal point and attempts to make it a subject of political speculation be halted," concludes the statement.