Parliamentary forces have consolidated against the ruling minority on  early elections

ArmInfo. Vice Speaker of National Assembly Arpine Hovhannisyan and MP from the faction"Tsarukyan" Gevorg Petrosyan on making amendments to the law on NA Regulations became a stumbling block between parliamentary forces.

The document providing for the legal suspension of the National  Assembly in the event of force majeure, was not much liked by the  deputies from the ruling Elk bloc, who also saw a political  connotation aimed at failing early parliamentary elections. In fact,  the bill, if adopted, will create the opportunity not to convene the  NA sitting on legal grounds, if there are force majeure situations,  meetings of pressure on deputies. That is, the plans of the ruling  party to put pressure on parliamentarians to dissolve the National  Assembly by means of street actions may fail, since this draft law  gives deputies an opportunity in such cases not to hold meetings at  all and not to take decisions.

"This bill demonstrates the fears of the RPA and their associates in  connection with the upcoming parliamentary elections," head of the  Yelk faction Lena Nazaryan said from the rostrum of the parliament,  adding that the document has a clear political connotation and aims  to realize the narrow interests of certain forces.

Another MP from the Yelk faction Hayk Kondjrian, referring to the  forces supporting the bill, said that the people's elects should  coordinate their actions in accordance with the will of the people,  and not oppose it.  "Otherwise, no one can guarantee a repetition of  the May events of the current year. But I think that this is an  extremely undesirable scenario for everyone," said the  parliamentarian.

Edmond Marukyan also representing the faction "Elk" said that the  program of the government, approved by the parliament, fixed the  provision on early elections, and they will be held. "It's another  matter that we want to achieve this through political consensus, but  there is no doubt that early elections in Armenia will take place,"  he said.

Meanwhile, all the other forces in the matter of holding early  elections consolidated around the Republican Party against the Yelk  bloc, almost the same as they had rallied around the Yelk Bloc and  its leader Nikol Pashinyan against the RPA months earlier.

Thus, the MP from ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" Armenuy Kyureghyan, despite  the early statements by the ARF on the need for early elections,  assured that she now does not see the imperative in holding them,  since in this case a one-party power system will prevail in Armenia.  "We already have a similar situation in the Council of Elders of  Yereavn, where 80% belongs to the My Step block. Let's see how this  system will affect the Yerevan government, if it is justified, then  we will apply it throughout the republic. But now you cannot transfer  all the power into the hands of a political force that did not have  enough time to express itself, "said Kureregian.

MP from the Tsarukyan bloc, Louise Simonyan, addressing the deputies  from the Yelk bloc, urged them not to speculate on the results of the  Prosperous Armenia party in the Yerevan elections: "Just a few months  ago, the third president Serzh Sargsyan reproached you with the same  7% of votes received in the elections. He said that the party that  received 7% in the elections cannot dictate a political agenda, but  you can see for yourself how events are developing. So, before you  reproach us with our 7% in the Yerevan elections, remember this. "

In turn, Mikael Melkumyan, vice-speaker of the parliament from the  Tsarukyan bloc, stated that the government violates the agreement  with the parliamentary forces. "Initially, it was decided to hold  elections in June 2019, what happened now, what is the need to rush  them, why do they put pressure on us?" The vice-speaker was  indignant.

Another vice-speaker of the parliament, Eduard Sharmazanov, said that  no one has the right to exert pressure on deputies, every  parliamentarian must vote according to his conscience. "The National  Assembly was elected legally until 2022, and it should act until that  time. I personally do not intend to vote for the dissolution of the  parliament under any pressure," he said, stressing that Pashinyan  comes up with new initiatives every day. "He said that the elections  should be held after the amendments to the EC, which was not done,  after the constitutional amendments providing for the  self-dissolution of the National Assembly, which also does not exist,  in June 2019, and now he says that by the end of this year. We cannot  adjust to the mood of the prime minister every time, "he noted.