Official: Armenian opposition MPs to be forced to return to parliament

WORLD  15 July 2022 - 11:10

The Armenian Parliament Council's extraordinary meeting, which was scheduled to discuss the issue of depriving 33 opposition MPs of their mandates, has been postponed.

"The meeting did not take place due to the absence of opposition MPs who were supposed to be present during the discussion of this issue," Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan said, Caliber.Az informs, citing Armenian media.

He added that under the Law on the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, the meeting will be held in a week.

"But that's just the technical part. It does not really matter. It is important that the Civil Contract faction decided not to appeal to the Constitutional Court on the issue of deprivation of mandates," Rubinyan noted.

Touching upon the reasons, Rubinyan said that with the deprivation of some opposition MPs of their positions, the problems associated with their stay in these positions were resolved. The decision not to deprive the mandates, Rubinyan called "respect for votes" cast in favour of the opposition.

"We do respect the electors' votes. We believe that it is they who should assess the current actions and behaviour of the opposition MPs. I think that the part of the people that voted for them will draw the appropriate conclusions," Rubinyan said.

Another reason for this decision of the Civil Contract faction was the understanding that Armenia currently needs political stability and solidarity.

In addition, an appeal to the Constitutional Court with a demand to deprive opposition MPs of their mandates would be a "lifebuoy ring" for the opposition, and Civil Contract does not want to help the oppositionists, Rubinyan believes.

"No, they will be forced to bow their heads and return to parliament," the deputy speaker said.

Caliber.Az