Opposition politician: The brawl in Armenia’s parliament demonstrated that the Civil Contract faction is facing a legitimacy crisis

ArmInfo. The brawl that took place in the Armenian parliament is linked to a legitimacy crisis within the ruling force, the “Civil Contract” party. MP Mesrop Manukyan of the “Armenia” parliamentary faction stated this in a conversation with journalists on October 29.

The opposition member believes that there are provocateurs in the “Civil Contract” faction, one of whom is ruling-force MP Taron Chakhoyan. “There is a crisis in the country, and the ruling force is facing a legitimacy problem. This crisis exists within the ruling force itself, which is proposing holding snap elections. But what is the problem? Let them resign. Why are they not doing so? Obviously, their weakest point is the organization of elections,” Manukyan noted.

He recalled that in parliament it is the authorities who bear primary responsibility for ensuring the normal conduct of sessions and should be interested in maintaining order. At the same time, Manukyan drew attention to the behavior of Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Vahe Ghalumyan, recalling that he was one of those who first threw a bottle and then a chair at opposition lawmakers.  “In such situations, primary responsibility lies with representatives of the authorities, including the speaker of parliament and his subordinates. The question is why Speaker Ruben Rubinyan did not call a recess and summon security personnel to settle the situation. What happened shows that the ruling faction has still failed to reach a tacit agreement with representatives of the opposition. I was already convinced of this, but now I have become convinced once again,” Manukyan stated.

In turn, head of the “Armenia” parliamentary faction Anna Grigoryan called on the “Civil Contract” faction to regulate the conduct of its MP Taron Chakhoyan. “I call on the ‘Civil Contract’ faction to regulate the speech and behavior of its MP. When appearing at the parliamentary podium, he should remember not only that he is engaged in spreading fake news, but also that he is a member of the National Assembly and is obliged to behave accordingly. Let them properly control their ‘chief fake-news disseminator’; otherwise, such situations will recur. The man essentially does not understand that he has moved from his fake-news factory to the National Assembly, but continues to act there just as he did before. The head of his faction must answer the question: do they intend to control the behavior of this MP or not?” Grigoryan stated.

Separately, the head of the “Armenia” faction criticized the actions of National Assembly Speaker Ruben Rubinyan, stating that he had not taken the necessary measures to prevent the conflict and had effectively encouraged what was happening. In this regard, Grigoryan did not rule out that the actions of representatives of the ruling faction might have been part of a prearranged scenario. “I do not rule this out. But even if everything happened without a prearranged scenario, Rubinyan encouraged what was happening through his actions, although he was precisely the one responsible for ensuring the normal conduct of the parliamentary session,” Grigoryan concluded.

It should be noted that on October 29, following insulting remarks by Taron Chakhoyan, an MP from the ruling “Civil Contract” faction, addressed at the family of Narek Karapetyan, head of the “Strong Armenia” faction, a verbal altercation broke out in the Armenian parliament, which first escalated into a scuffle between MPs and then into a brawl. As the situation worsened, Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Ruben Rubinyan did not call a recess, but merely urged the MPs to decide whether they intended to continue fighting or take their seats. However, the tension not only failed to subside but intensified further.  The parliamentary speaker was forced to summon representatives of the State Protection Service to calm the “servants of the people.” The conflict continued in the parliament corridor. Law-enforcement officers had to form a wall between MPs from the ruling force and those from the opposition in order to calm them down.  As a result of the brawl, state property in the chamber was damaged.