4.2. State-Limiting Activities

The Constitution, civil freedoms and freedom of the press, among others, comprise the scope of state-limiting activities, which are necessary to implement the rule of law and to ensure the balance and cooperation of the three branches of power.

The Constitution. The Armenian Constitution, as the basic law of the State, has been regarded largely as illegitimate since its adoption in 1995. The results of the constitutional referendum were, as it is widely believed, forged, while the state system stipulated by the Constitution was more skewed towards authoritarianism with numerous deviations from democratic principles. The Constitutional Reform Commission formed in 1998, comprised of representatives from some influential political parties, submitted proposals for the re-establishment of the balance between the three branches of power. After the formation of the new NA, the issue of elaborating a package of proposals for amend ments to the Constitution by the updated Constitutional Reform Commission was raised once again.

Cooperation of the three branches of power. The RA Constitution envisages the model of a semi-presidential Republic, i.e. one featuring a division between executive, legislative and judicial powers (for more detail see NHDR 1998, Chapter 2).

Executive power is represented by the nationally elected RA President, by the government appointed by the President and by the bodies of territorial governance (governors) appointed by the latter.

Legislative power is represented by a professional National Assembly, which consists of 131 deputies (75 elected by majority poll, and 56 by proportional poll).

Table 4.2. Summary of National Assembly Proportional Vote Results Source: Central Electoral Commission.

Judicial power includes the first instance courts, the courts of appeal, cassation courts as well as the constitutional court, the commercial court, the military courts and other courts and the prosecutor's office.

However, the three branches of power are not independent of each other. With an obvious dominance of the executive power and the RA President personally, their counterbalance and reciprocal supervision are not ensured constitutionally, which reduces the efficiency of the sphere of state-limiting activities.

In terms of checks and balances, it would be useful if the Constitution stipulated the conditions under which the RA President could dissolve the NA, and when the candidatures of Prime Minister, the Prosecutor General and other chairing judges could be accredited by the NA. In addition, the NA should be entitled to the vote of non-confidence against any state official.

National Assembly (Parliament). As a representative body, the parliament's function is to provide feedback between the public and the State and to secure the efficient participation of the public in the decision-making process at state level. Although the NA elected in 1999 will work for the first time as a professional parliament, (i.e. NA members cannot occupy any state paid post or perform any other paid employment other than scientific, educational and artistic work) the newly elected NA is partly comprised of parliamentarians who have nothing in common with politics or law making. They represent their own interests or the interests of some business groups, while in political issues they are subject to the executive power. As a solution to this serous problem, a transition could be considered entirely to the proportional system of voting, which is likely to preclude bribery of voters and commissions, local patronage and cases of intimidation, as well as promote the enhancement of the multi-party institution.

Mass Media. In the Republic of Armenia, along with state-owned media, mainly in the capital, a few dozen non-governmental radio and TV companies and newspapers have been functioning, whereas in rural areas the state media prevails as represented by the RA national television. With the exception of a few cases when the press was subjected to pressure and persecution, non-governmental media is free to express its opinions. State-owned media are under the supervision of the authorities, although in 1998-99 this supervision has been slackened.

While possessing significant freedom, the development prospects of free press in the RA are limited: most papers have a print run of only 2000-3000 copies and circulate mainly in the capital. The largest print run of a political newspaper belongs to the "Iravunk" weekly, 18,000 copies, which is, however, 10-12 times less than the average print run of newspapers published in Soviet Armenia. The population's low purchasing power and underdeveloped advertising system contribute to the poor financial performance of the press, which in turn hinders the development of free press in Armenia. As a positive phenomenon, we must mention that in 1998-99 the state governing bodies have more often responded to the alarm signals appearing in the press, provided explanations and comments, and taken necessary measures.

Table 4.3. NA Members Elected by Proportional Vote (by parisanship)

Table 4.4. National Assembly Members Elected by Proportional Vote( by profession)