Tuesday, August 3 2021 16:11

ArmInfo. The parliamentary opposition intends to challenge the results of the election of the Speaker of the National Assembly in the Constitutional Court.

Yesterday, the MPs of the ruling "Civil Contract" party elected  Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of the 7th convocation Alen  Simonyan as Speaker of the parliament. 

Meanwhile, the opposition candidates - former head of the Meghri  community Mkhitar Zakaryan (nominated by the "Hayastan" faction) and  former head of the Sisian community Artur Sargsyan (the candidate  from the "I Have Honor") were not given the opportunity established  by the NA Rules of Procedure to speak before parliamentarians, since  Zakaryan and Sargsyan, despite their parliamentary mandates and,  accordingly, parliamentary immunity, are under arrest. As the lawyer,  now the MP from "Hayastan" faction Aram Vardevanyan, stated, the  immunity of the MP can be overcome only with the consent of the  National Assembly of Armenia. Proceeding from this, in his words, the  process of electing the Speaker of the parliament in the absence of  Mkhitar Zakaryan and Artur Sargsyan cannot be legal. As a result,  even before the start of voting on the election of the NA Speaker,  the parliamentary opposition demonstratively left the session hall in  protest against the discussion of the government's candidacy for the  post of Speaker of the National Assembly in the absence of opposition  candidates.

Today, prior to the start of nominating candidates for the post of  Deputy Speakers, MP of "Hayastan" faction Artsvik Minasyan said that  they would appeal to the Constitutional Court to recognize the  results of yesterday's elections as unconstitutional. In addition,  the opposition will seek to prove the illegality of the deprivation  of freedom, despite the immunity. In turn, MP of "Hayastan" faction  Aram Vardevanyan stated that the voting was carried out with  significant violations due to an error in the ballots (because of a  typo in the name of one of the opposition candidates, they had to go  to the second vote, Ed. note).