Armenia’s Parliamentary Speaker Won’t be Reprimanding MPs who Voted for their Colleagues

At a consultation called by Republic of Armenia (RA) National Assembly (NA) Speaker Samvel Nikoyan today, discussed among other items was the document sent to the RA NA Speaker by the RA Special Investigation Service related to an incident in parliament on Feb. 9 whereby MPs Ara Babloyan, Hermine Naghdalyan, Gagik Melikyan and Areg Ghukasyan could be seen voting in place of their absent colleagues.

During the discussion it was noted that the items mentioned in the document are regulated under Articles 45, 56 and 61 of the RA Law on Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly. In particular, Paragraph 2.3 of Article 56 stipulates that the deputy shall propose to restore the results of the voting on the electric display by speech on the order of conducting the sitting and express opinion about the violations during voting, according to a statement issued by the National Assembly.

In this particular parliamentary sitting during voting Larisa Alaverdyan, delivering her speech in the order of conducting, noted a deputy’s name, saying that he has voted instead of another, but she didn’t propose to restore the results of voting on the electric display. The person presiding over the sitting, taking into account the results of voting, and the fact that the mentioned case does not essentially have an impact on the results of voting, did not announce re-voting.

Regarding mentions of violations of the Rules of Procedure made by the deputies during the sitting, it’s a fact that besides the above-mentioned case concretely no other deputies’ names have been stated. Hence, the person presiding over the sitting, on the basis of Paragraph 3 of Article 45 of the RA Law on Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, hasn’t applied disciplinary measures towards the deputies, simply urging lawmakers not to vote for their colleagues.

During the consultation, emphasizing the exclusion of such cases, it was noted that among the functions of the Committee on Ethics, created as a result of the amendment to the RA Law on Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, are issues concerning rules on the behavior of deputies and that effective mechanisms are designed to prevent a repeat of such behavior.

As a result of discussion, the RA National Assembly Speaker Samvel Nikoyan decided to appeal to the RA National Assembly factions, urging them to work on excluding such phenomena from now on.