Parliament of Armenia "under the noise" adopted a scandalous bill

ArmInfo. On October 2, the Armenian Parliament gathered for an extraordinary meeting to vote for the draft law "On Amendment to the Law on the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly" submitted by the Vice-Speaker of the National  Assembly Arpine Hovhannisyan and the deputy from the Tsarukyan  faction Gevorg Petrosyan.

It should be noted that the message on holding an extraordinary  meeting appeared on the website of the parliament at the very last  moment, when deputies already voted in the walls of parliament. At  the same time, the National Assembly website, as usual, in such cases  did not lead a direct retransmission, the doors of the conference  room were closed for journalists, and the microphones were turned  off. Before that, NA deputy from the Yelk faction Lena Nazaryan  collected parliamentary cards so that they could not vote.  However,  this did not stop the parliamentary majority in the face of the  Republican Party faction, which was joined by deputies from the  Tsarukyan Bloc and ARFD factions, voted in favor of applying the  provisions of this law by raising hands. 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 draft law, if adopted, will  create the opportunity not to convene the NA sittings legally, if  there are force majeure situations, rallies and 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.

As the deputy of the National Assembly Edmond Marukyan told reporters  after the end, all the other parliamentary forces were in favor of  submitted document. "The bill was passed by 61 votes in favor, but it  doesn't solve anything, because it has to go through the procedure  and be signed. Ultimately, if the prime minister resigns and the  National Assembly does not elect a new head of government for 14  days, dissolve Parliament receives the force of law, "said Marukian.  In turn, the deputy from the Yelk faction Sasun Mikayelyan loudly  criticized his colleagues, calling the parliament a gathering of  bandits. "This is a real gang, which I have repeatedly stated," -  said the deputy.  This wording was not liked by representatives of  other parliamentary forces. "This is immoral, and your actions are  worthy of condemnation," said Naira Zohrabyan, a deputy from the  Prosperous Armenia faction.  In turn, the representative of the ARF  faction Armen Rustamyan stated that no one has the right to privatize  the results of the revolution.

The author of the presented document, Vice-Speaker Arpine  Hovhannisyan believes that the parliamentary forces are not against  early parliamentary elections, the whole question is in time.  "However, our wish does not meet the interests of only one political  force," the deputy noted.