Thursday, January 10 2019 17:00

ArmInfo.Disputes and contradictions flare up in the newly elected Armenian parliament. This time, the office of the third deputy speaker of the National  Assembly has become the apple of discord.

Both political forces - Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and Bright  Armenia (BA), which position themselves as opposition, expressed a  desire to nominate their candidate for the post. And each of them  assures that it is their candidate who will be the most competent and  worthy deputy speaker.

So, before the solemn ceremony of presenting the mandates to the  lawmakers of the new parliament, Spokesman for the head of the PAP  Gagik Tsarukyan, MP Iveta Tonoyan said in an interview with  journalists, that as the PPA is the second largest force in the newly  elected parliament, it will definitely run for the post. "In the near  future, the party will officially publicize the name of its  candidate. We have many worthy candidates. In particular, the  candidatures of Naira Zohrabyan, Vahe Enfiajyan, Mikayel Melkumyan,  etc. are being discussed," the MP said.

In turn, the head of the Bright Armenia party, Edmon Marukyan,  believes that the candidate for the post of deputy speaker of the PA  should be no less, and perhaps even more competent, than the  candidate of the PAP. As for how the Bright Armenia will position  itself in the new parliament, Marukyan stated that they will  definitely be the opposition. As for the cooperation of the Bright  Armenia with the PAP, then according to Marukyan, "if the PAP will  also position itself as an opposition, then we will look at the  results of its activities." In general, the lawmaker did not rule out  the possibility of cooperation with all political forces with which  they will come to a consensus.

Acting Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, newly elected MP Ararat  Mirzoyan also did not avoid the question of electing a candidate for  the post of deputy speaker. He noted that representatives of the "My  Step" party have no right to violate the will of the people. "We will  vote for the candidate from the Prosperous Armenia faction as they  gained a greater number of votes. It is clear that our colleagues  from Bright Armenia are dissatisfied with this fact, but we do not  consider ourselves entitled to dictate our will to the people,"  Mirzoyan said.

He also touched upon the question of how representatives of the new  parliament intend to vote on the law "On the structure of the  government." In particular, the Acting Deputy Prime Minister noted  that when the draft law is finally developed, it will be possible to  express our position. To the remark that under the law currently in  force, the security forces (the Police and the National Security  Service) are personally subordinate to the Prime Minister, and being  an opposition member Mirzoyan himself criticized this law, the Deputy  Prime Minister said: "I put forward certain proposals in connection  with this law, in which I expressed all my thoughts and views. As for  me personally, I think that the National Security Service should obey  the Prime Minister, and as regards the Police, this issue should be  discussed in more detail, "he stressed. 

To note, a solemn ceremony of presenting the mandates to the  lawmakers of the new parliament took place today. The first meeting  of the National Assembly of the seventh convocation will be held on  January 14 at 10:00am. 132 MPs, 88 lawmakers from the "My Step" bloc,  26 from the Prosperous Armenia party and 18 from the Bright Armenia  party will work in the new parliament.