Wednesday, October 3 2018 18:52

ArmInfo. The law on amending  the constitutional law on the regulation of the National Assembly,  adopted on October 2, 2018, has one goal - to ensure the natural work  of the parliament in cases of force majeure. This is stated in the  statement of the Republican Party of Armenia on the current situation  in the republic.

The statement, in particular, states: "All the regulations of the law  are in full compliance with the Constitution of Armenia and are aimed  at ensuring the normal functioning of the parliament during all  meetings, including meetings where the elections of the Prime  Minister will be held. The proposed adjustments are quite  understandable - the sittings of the National Assembly are suspended  until conditions are created for their normal conduct.  Claims of  unconstitutionality of a document are manipulations. Similar  legislation acts in many countries.

Despite the constitutionality of the document and the existence of  similar laws in many democratic countries, the RPA, nevertheless, at  the call of the prime minister postponed his vote in the second  reading the previous day in order not to torpedo political  consultations. Despite this, Premier Pashinyan, violating all the  agreements, suddenly announced about the holding of early  parliamentary elections in December of this year. It is for this  reason that the parliament convened an extraordinary meeting the  previous day late in the evening and adopted this law.  Prime  Minister Pashinyan responded to this with blockade of the NA building  with his supporters.

As for yesterday's meeting with the Prime Minister, it became clear  that the decision to hold early parliamentary elections in December  was not due to the adoption of this law, but was made long before  that. Evidence of this is the fact that our proposals to stop the  further process of the entry into force of the document were rejected  by him. Thus, Pashinyan did not come to negotiate with political  forces, but in order to present them with his ultimatums.

Under current conditions, the RPA faction did not give any consent or  promise to Pashinyan. Nevertheless, the RPA believes that the  position of the government's program should be implemented, consonant  with the premier's early promises to hold early parliamentary  elections after electoral legislation reforms, with time available to  political forces to prepare for electoral processes. This implies  holding early elections in May- June 2019.

And before that, we emphasize the importance of ensuring the natural  course of work of the National Assembly in accordance with the norms  of separation of powers.  We consider unacceptable any pressure on  the parliament, at the same time, emphasizing the need for the  earliest possible resolution of the current situation through  political means. "