Lawyer: Samvel Karapetyan may become Prime Minister at the will of  the people

ArmInfo.Samvel Karapetyan, chairman of the "Strong Armenia" party, may become the  Prime Minister of the country at the will of the Armenian people. 

Lawyer Aram Vardevanyan made this statement in a video message on his  Facebook page, in response  to statements made by representatives of  the ruling "Civil Contract" party that, according to the Armenian  Constitution, Karapetyan cannot be Prime Minister as he holds dual  citizenship.  Vardevanyan noted that, since February 12, 2026, some  individuals have started actively discussing matters related to the  preservation of the Armenian Constitution and the protection of its  provisions, attempting to refute the statement about Karapetyan's  potential nomination for Prime Minister. The lawyer recalled that it  all began with Karapetyan's statement that the path to his candidacy  for this position involves constitutional amendments.

In this regard, Vardevanyan noted that constitutional amendments can  be implemented in several ways, with the most well-known way  being a  referendum. However, as the lawyer noted, the Armenian Constitution   also allows for amendments to be made by a two-thirds majority vote  of the National Assembly. "This mechanism was introduced  in 2015 as  a result of constitutional amendments, meaning that there are  articles in the Constitution that can be amended  easily. One such  article is Article 148, which concerns the requirements for  government representatives and determines who can serve as PM of our  country," Vardevanyan clarified.

Speaking about how this could be implemented, the lawyer recalled how  it was done in 2020. "In February- March 2020, when the main issue in  Armenia was changing the composition of the Constitutional Court and  terminating the powers of its president, a referendum was under  discussion. However, it was canceled due to the onset of the  coronavirus pandemic. At that time, the issue was resolved based on  the initiative of one-quarter of the Armenian parliament's members,  and the constitutional amendments were adopted with the support of  two-thirds of the votes," Vardevanyan recalled.

He was surprised that the proposal to amend Article 148 of the  Armenian Constitution, which they put forward on February 12, was  criticized by the ruling authorities and their supporters, noting  that a similar constitutional amendment had already been made during  their tenure. "It seems like the events of 2020 never happened, even  though there is a transcript of the parliamentary session and a  corresponding mechanism in the Constitution," the lawyer complained.

He added that this same approach was presented by Samvel Karapetyan's  "Strong Armenia" party on February 12. Thus, as the lawyer noted, it  is the people of Armenia who can exercise their power through their  decision "for" or "against," and these changes can be implemented  through the simplified procedure he presented.