A number of NGOs have issued a statement asserting that the political past of Civil Contract member Vladimir Vardanyan, elected as a Constitutional Court judge, calls into question his ability to serve impartially in the Constitutional Court.
They also urged lawmakers to refrain from voting in favor of his candidacy.
“On March 13, 2026, by decree of the President of the Republic of Armenia, the candidacy of Vladimir Vardanyan — a member of the Civil Contract party and chair of the National Assembly’s State and Legal Affairs Committee — was nominated for the vacant position of judge of the Constitutional Court. On the same day, Vardanyan announced that he had terminated his membership in the Civil Contract party, and on March 19 he submitted his resignation to the Speaker of the National Assembly.
The prohibition on a Constitutional Court judge being affiliated with a political party or engaging in political activity is explicitly stipulated in Article 4, Clause 5 of the Constitutional Law ‘On the Constitutional Court,’ as well as deriving from Article 12, Part 2, Clause 2 of the same law and Article 164, Clause 9 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia.
Although these legal provisions, under a literal interpretation, apply to the period following appointment as a Constitutional Court judge, they are clearly intended primarily to prevent connections between a Constitutional Court judge and political forces, thereby mitigating risks to the court’s independence and impartiality.
In this context, although Vladimir Vardanyan has relinquished his mandate and ended his membership in the ruling political force, his more than seven years of political activity and party affiliation raise prima facie doubts about his ability to serve impartially as a Constitutional Court judge.
Moreover, from the perspective of an impartial observer, such political ties in themselves rule out the possibility of effectively managing these risks. We consider it necessary to recall that a similar situation arose years ago during the process of Hrayr Tovmasyan’s appointment as a Constitutional Court judge and later as chairman in 2018, where the same overt political affiliation served as grounds, including for then-opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan, to characterize the appointment as a ‘deployment’ to the Constitutional Court by Serzh Sargsyan.
The undersigned civil society organizations believe that long-term membership in a political party and parliamentary faction — especially when accompanied by an active stance, significant political activity, and leadership of a standing parliamentary committee — cannot reasonably ensure the severance of political and party ties or eliminate political influence, including ideological alignment with the respective political force, which is a natural phenomenon.
Even if one were to assume that relinquishing a mandate somehow mitigates the risk of maintaining political ties or dependencies (which we do not consider reasonable), it is evident that such steps cannot a priori eliminate the candidate’s ideological alignment with the given political force.
This alone is sufficient to cast doubt on the candidate’s independence and impartiality if appointed as a Constitutional Court judge. Based on the above, we call on the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia to refrain from voting in favor of Vladimir Vardanyan’s candidacy for the position of Constitutional Court judge,” the statement said.
The statement was signed by the Law Development and Protection Foundation, Transparency International Anti-Corruption Center, “Community Consolidation and Support Center” NGO, Regional Center for Democracy and Security, “New Culture of Justice” NGO, “Armenian Progressive Youth” NGO, Yerevan Press Club, Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, Protection of Rights Without Borders NGO, “Helsinki Association” NGO, Armenian Committee of the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly, “Union of Informed Citizens” NGO, and the Democracy Development Foundation.
Civil Contract MP Vladimir Vardanyan has been elected as a member of the Constitutional Court. All 67 participating MPs voted in favor of President Vahagn Khachaturyan’s proposal that Vardanyan become a Constitutional Court judge.
