Government Formed with a Violation of the Law and the Constitution

Article 150 of the Constitution as well as Article 3 of the Law on the Structure and Functioning of the Government establish the formation of the Government.

A few days ago, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that 2/3 of the government members will be appointed, while 1/3 will not be appointed since ministerial cuts and optimizations are expected. Moreover, even though the Prime Minister presented it as something not contradicting the law, the reality is different.

Article 150 of the Constitution as well as Article 3 of the Law on the Structure and Functioning of the Government establish the formation of the Government. The regulations specify how the government is formed, but the procedure of nomination and election of government members is not clearly presented.

According to the RA Constitution, “The Government is formed within 15 days after the appointment of the Prime Minister. After his appointment, within five days the Prime Minister proposes to the President of the Republic the candidates for deputy prime ministers and ministers; the President within three days either appoints the proposed candidates or applies to the Constitutional Court. After that, the Constitutional Court examines the application and makes a decision within five days.

If the President of the Republic fails to comply with the requirements set out in the above-mentioned Article within three days, the respective Deputy Prime Minister or Minister shall be deemed to have been appointed by law.”

In other words, the Constitution clearly states that after his appointment, the Prime Minister is required to submit to the President all the candidates for deputy prime ministers and ministers within five days. Article 3 of the Law on Structure and Functioning of the Government establishes the same.

The same article states that the government is considered to be formed if at least two-thirds of the members of the Government have been appointed. Guided by this point of the law, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan did not propose to the President the candidacy of one Deputy Prime Minister and some Ministers.

Meanwhile, Article 150 of the Constitution states that the Prime Minister must propose candidates to the President, and the composition of the government is formed if two-thirds have been appointed.

In other words, the Prime Minister should propose the candidacy of all the ministers and deputy prime ministers, and depending on the appointment of the candidates by the President or the process of sending decisions to the Constitutional Court for consideration, the appointment of a part of government members may be delayed.

Exactly for the clarification of such a situation, the law defines that when two-thirds are appointed, the government is considered to be formed.