Parliamentary opposition to apply to Constitutional Court on Dec 17 to consider validity of law on compulsory contribution pension system

On December 17, 4 opposition factions of the Armenian Parliament, namely ARF Dashnaktsutyun, Prosperous Armenia Party, Heritage and Armenian National Congress, will hold a procession of protest against introduction of the compulsory contribution pension system. They will also apply to the Constitutional Court to consider the validity of that law.  
 
Artsvik Minasyan, MP from ARF Dashnaktsutyun, told media that the procession may develop into a rally.  He said that the opposition factions will apply to the Constitutional Court because the parliamentary majority does not want to take measures to prevent introduction of the compulsory contribution pension system. The MP also promised that if the Constitutional Court rejects the oppositionists' application, they will convene an extraordinary meeting of the Parliament and will do their best to hold a nationwide referendum. Minasyan said that there are already 32 parliamentarians' signatures for applying to the Constitutional Court instead of the required 27. 

To note, the compulsory contribution pension system to be introduced on 1 Jan 2014 has caused wide public protests in Armenia because additional taxes will be imposed on the citizens amid the countrywide social crisis.