Parliamentary Session Promises to Be Heated, MPs Warned Not to Be Absent

The parliamentary session starting on January 17 promises to be heated. This is due to the fact that during that time there will be four elections taking place: the Human Rights Defender, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, and two members of the Public Radio and Television Board.

It is noteworthy that the election of the Human Rights Defender particularly concerns the authorities, with Kristine Grigoryan as the candidate. According to the 'Regulation of the National Assembly' law, voting concerning all individuals, including the Human Rights Defender of Armenia, is conducted by closed ballot, requiring at least three-fifths of the total number of deputy votes. In a parliament with 107 deputies, this number is 64, which alarms the ruling party due to the presence of 71 members from the Civil Contract party in parliament. This means that if there are many absences, the election of the Human Rights Defender could be simply thwarted. For this reason, all deputies have already been warned to be attentive and not to miss the sessions during that period.

It should be noted that today the National Assembly Council will meet, and only after that will the order of the proposed agendas be confirmed, clarifying the specific day of the election. Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that the 'I Have Honor' faction has not yet met with the candidate for Human Rights Defender, and that meeting will take place next week. The other opposition group, the 'Armenia' faction, has already had a meeting but has not made a decision regarding the election. In an interview with the 'Zhoghovurd' daily, opposition faction member Agnessa Khmoyan noted when asked how they will vote, 'The faction has not yet discussed that issue.'

For the full article, refer to today's issue of the newspaper.