ArmInfo. The leaders of the opposition parliamentary factions With Honor and Hayastan (Armenia), Artur Vanetsyan and Seyran Ohanyan, issued a statement on the election of the vice-chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security.
On Tuesday, November 30, the dominant parliamentary faction Civil Contract has for the 14th time rejected the candidate of the Hayastan faction member, lawyer and lecturer at the Faculties of Law and International Relations, Yerevan State University, Artur Ghazinyan for the post.
Earlier, Vilen Galstyan of the dominant parliamentary initiated legislation on amendments to the Regulations of the RA National Assembly allowing the dominant parliamentary faction to nominate a new candidate within five days if committee vice-chairman fails to be elected.
In their statement, the opposition MP note that, exercising their legal rights, the opposition factions With Honor and Hayastan nominated Mr Ghazinyan, whereas the political majority, has not only defeated the vote for over a dozen times, but is also torpedoing the committee`s work.
"By avoiding urgent discussions of the defense and security challenges facing Armenia and Artsakh, showing criminal omission, the aforementioned persons are actually depriving the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of its right to exercise effective parliamentary control. The Committee chairman must be unaware of the legal wording or must be distorting it by making statements for political reasons, which is a gross violation of parliamentary ethics and, in some cases, actions with elements of offence," reads the statement.
The opposition factions are reaffirming their right to nominate Mr Ghazinyan to the post of vice-chairman of the Standing Committee.