Government of Armenia

Current government

The incumbent government of Armenia is led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan who, as leader of Civil Contract (the party which won elections in December 2018), was appointed prime minister on 14 January 2019 by President Armen Sarkissian.

Powers

Powers of Government granted by former revision of Constitution (accepted in 2005)

Following the Article 55 of Armenian Constitution, the Republic's president must accept resignation of the government on the day of

first sitting of newly elected Nation Assembly

assumption of the office by the president of the Republic

expression of the vote of no confidence to the Government

resignation of the prime minister

vacant position of prime minister

Later on the prime minister must be appointed by the president of the Republic. The elected prime minister should enjoy the confidence of majority Deputies and if this is impossible the confidence of maximum number of the deputies. Ministers must be appointed within 20 days after prime minister is appointed. After these the Government is considered to be formed. All the ministers, including the prime minister, must be citizens of the Republic of Armenia. The structure of the Government must be defined by law in regard to recommendation by the Government. The procedure for the organization of operations of the Government and other public administration bodies under the Government must be defined by the decree of the president upon the submission of prime minister.

The role of the Prime Minister is that it should supervise the Government activities, coordinate the work of the Ministers and it should adopt decisions on the organization of Government activities. In addition, decisions passed by the Government must be signed by the Prime Minister. The president has the right to suspend Governmental decisions for one month for checking the compliance of decisions with the constitution. Government decisions about appointment or dissolution of the governors must be approved by the President.

The president has a right to invite and head government sittings about issues of defence, foreign policy or national security.

Leaders

Each of the three Armenian Republics had an executive branch at the time of their existence, each being led by a prime minister.

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic

The governmental structure of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was similar to that of the other Soviet republics. It is mentioned in the article 79 of USSR constitution "The highest executive and administrative organ of state power of a Union Republic is the Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republic". The council was formed by Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic, which was the only legislative body in a Union Republic and the highest organ of state power. The council consisted of the following positions:

Chairman

Vice-chairman

Chairman of the State Planning Commission

People's Commissars-of:

Food industry, light industry, agriculture, finance, internal trade, justice, education, municipal economy, public health etc.

The Representative of the Committee of Agricultural Stocks

Chief of the Board of Arts

The Representative of the All-Union People's Commissariats

The Council issued orders and decisions and supervised their execution. The Council was responsible and accountable to Supreme Soviet of the Union Republic but between the sessions of the Union Republics Supreme Soviet, the Council was responsible and accountable to the Presidium of the same Supreme Soviet. The Council of People's Commissars controlled those branches of state administration that came within the jurisdiction of Union Republic. It issued within the limits of the jurisdiction of their respective People's Commissariats, orders and instructions. The Council of People's Commissariats of a Union Republic were either Union-Republic or Republican Commissariats. Union-Republican controlled those branches of the state administration that were entrusted to them and were subordinate both to the Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republic and to the appropriate Union-Republic People's Commissars of the U.S.S.R.. The Republican Commissariats again directed branches that were entrusted to them but were subordinate only to Council of People's Commissars of the Union Republic.

Prime Ministers of the First Armenian Republic

On May 30, 1918, Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) decided that Armenia must be a republic under a provisional coalition government. It was decided that the Republic must have its own constitution and self-governing system. The government of the Republic was headed by prime minister. He was chosen by the National Council of Armenia. Later on the prime minister himself formed his cabinet. Prime minister was accountable for international, domestic and regional issues. The first prime minister became Hovhannes Katchaznouni whose cabinet was made up from five members, all of which were from ARF. In addition, a ministry of interior was created, whose first head was Aram Manukian. The ministry of interior was responsible for domestic problems. Its key responsibilities were to create public school system, railroad system, communication and telegraph systems, also it was responsible for enforcing law and order. All these responsibilities were controlled by a specific department, each of which became a separate ministry later on.

Prime minister had direct involvement in regional and international issues. Hamazasp Ohanjyan, the third prime minister, and Avetis Aharonian left for Berlin trying to reassure the tense relations between Turkey and Armenia. Unfortunately none of them succeeded to accomplish his goal.