HAVING OUR SAY ON THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000887 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR DRL AND EUR/CACEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL AM SUBJECT: HAVING OUR SAY ON THE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS REF: YEREVAN 856 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. -------------- SUPPORTING THE COE -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The National Assembly passed the governing coalition's draft amendments in the first reading May 11 (reftel). The Council of Europe's (CoE) Venice Commission has been working closely with the GOAM and the National Assembly throughout the Constitutional reform process, and has provided the GOAM with detailed textual analyses of the draft amendments. -------------- USG SHOULD WEIGH IN -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The period leading up to the second reading (probably mid-June) of the proposed amendments is crucial -- this is the period when any serious edits will occur. We believe we can make a difference, and our message is simple: -- We urge the GOAM to continue to work closely with the Council of Europe to amend its constitution in line with western norms. -- We note that executive power must be subject to effective checks and balances, including a strong legislature. -- We urge the GOAM to ensure that the judiciary is independent and impartial. -- We look forward to seeing the GOAM empower regional and local government; governors and the Yerevan mayor should be elected. Although these points are perhaps excessively straightforward, we believe that, for most audiences, they are tactically more useful than the 124 detailed points (e-mailed separately to EUR/CACEN) laid out by the Venice Commission. One of the key stumbling blocks for the amended constitution will be the public perception that the discussions took place among elites and specialists, which has the potential to harm the chances for a successful referendum to approve the changes. ¶4. (SBU) We plan to make these points with interlocutors across the political spectrum -- together with the CoE's Venice Commission that is making a detailed text-in/text-out analysis of the draft amendments, we have the potential to help the GOAM do the right thing on these fundamental points. EVANS