On March 2, a seminar was held at the RA Constitutional Court, and the topic was: “New Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia and peculiarities of judicial protection of electoral right”. The seminar was organized by the Center of Constitutional Law of the Republic of Armenia, Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia, Armenian Office of the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Administrative Court of Appeal of the Republic of Armenia.
The seminar was opened by G. Harutyunyan, President of the RA Constitutional Court, who underlined the urgency of the issue and presented the topics to be discussed at the seminar.
The first report was made by T. Mukuchyan, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia, and the topic was: “Characteristics and main features of non-judicial protection of electoral right in accordance with the new Electoral Code”. He presented the features of pre-trial protection of electoral rights, as well as all defined procedures that can be implemented to protect those rights. In particular, T. Mukuchyan pointed out the functions of the Central Electoral Commission and territorial electoral commissions, terms and procedures for proceedings, and underlined that all applications received should be mandatory considered by commissions.
The second report was made by Hovsep Bedevyan, Chairman of the Administrative Court of Appeal, and the topic was: “Procedures and features of judicial protection of electoral right in administrative courts”. He presented the features of administrative proceedings, taking into account that the Electoral Code empowered the Administrative Court to resolve electoral disputes in administrative procedure. H. Bedevyan also emphasized that other public authorities cannot examine those cases in any other procedure, and highlighted that the actors involved in the electoral process must have legal literacy and be able to protect their rights applying to the Administrative Court.
The third report was made by G. Harutyunyan, President of the RA Constitutional Court, and the topic was: “Legal grounds and characteristic features of judicial protection of electoral right in the Constitutional Court”. In his speech, Mr. Harutyunyan presented a detailed analysis of the peculiarities of legal regulations stipulated by Part 3 of Article 14, Part 8 of Article 19, Part 5 of Article 27, Parts 1, 5 and 12 of Article 48, Article 75, Article 89, Part 1 of Article 95, Part 4 of Article 97, Article 99 and Article 102 of the new Electoral Code, as well as the features of consideration of possible disputes in the Constitutional Court concerning the outcome of elections to the National Assembly in light of the above-mentioned and taking into consideration the requirements stipulated by Article 74 of the RA Law on the Constitutional Court. Mr. Harutyunyan answered numerous questions from the audience.