Wednesday, December 12 2018 12:15

ArmInfo. The parliament will not elect the next Prime Minister of Armenia.

Thus, if following the results of the snap parliamentary elections on  December 9 there will be no appeals, and judging by the statements  already made, this will not happen, then on December 17 the Central  Election Commission will announce the final results of the voting. It  will take about a week to prepare the mandates, distribute them,  organize the oath ceremony of lawmakers, after which the CEC will  announce the first meeting of the 7th National Assembly, which is  likely to take place on December 24. According to the law "On the  Regulations of the National Assembly", in the case of early  parliamentary elections in Armenia, the first session of the  legislative body is convened at 10:00 am on the second Monday after  the formation of the newly elected National Assembly. At the same  time, the parliamentary majority, in this case the My Step bloc, will  nominate a candidate for prime minister.

According to Article 148 of the Constitution of the Republic of  Armenia, after the beginning of the term of office of the newly  elected National Assembly, the President of the Republic immediately  appoints a candidate represented by the parliamentary majority as  prime minister. Further, according to Article 150 of the Basic Law of  the country, the government is formed within fifteen days after the  appointment of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister, within five  days after his appointment, offers the President of the Republic  candidatures of deputy prime ministers and ministers. The President  of the Republic, within three days, either appoints deputy prime  ministers and ministers, or appeals to the Constitutional Court. The  Constitutional Court considers the appeal and adopts a ruling within  five days. If the President of the Republic does not fulfill the  requirements established by this article within three days, then the  relevant Deputy Prime Minister or Minister is considered appointed by  virtue of the law. 

For now the legislative and executive authorities have not been  formed yet, however, the media already report some details about the  expected structural changes in the government. In particular, it is  noted that the issue of uniting the ministries of education and  science, sports and youth, diaspora and culture in one department is  being discussed. The current acting Minister of Education and Science  Araik Harutyunyan will head this new ministry, according to the  information. What other state agencies will be reduced or optimized  will be known very soon, but as the Acting Prime Minister Nikol  Pashinyan said earlier, from 18 ministries, at least 5 will be  reduced.

Already after the formation of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Prime  Minister submits a Government program to the National Assembly in  twenty days. Parliament approves the Government's program within  seven days by a majority of votes of the total number of lawmakers.  If the National Assembly does not approve the programs of the  Government and does not elect a new Prime Minister in accordance with  paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 149 of the Constitution, the National  Assembly is dissolved by virtue of law. If the National Assembly  elects the Prime Minister, but again does not endorse the  Government's programs, the National Assembly is dissolved by virtue  of law. Again, according to the rumors circulating, Ararat Mirozyan  will be the speaker of the 7th convocation parliament; Lena Nazaryan  and Alen Simonyan will be the deputy speakers. At the same time, it  is noted that the question of who will head the parliamentary faction  "My Step" has not been finally resolved.