Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia’s National Assembly earlier today voted on a bill regulating the rule of law during a state of emergency. The results? Out of the 88 lawmakers present, 67 voted in favor, 1 voted against and 1 abstained. Heritage Party and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D) deputies didn’t participate in the voting.
Instead, Heritage Party MPs Zaruhi Postanjyan and Anahit Bakhshyan were monitoring the voting process so that lawmakers (most notably, those representing the Republican Party of Armenia) wouldn’t vote in place of their absent colleagues — a move caught on camera when the bill passed its first reading in parliament.
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) MP Manvel Badeyan, however, wasn’t too pleased about the monitoring, saying that he doesn’t like the “fort leader’s laws,” but Prosperous Armenia MP Naira Zohrabyan said the deputies had a right to supervise the process.
ARF-D MP Vahan Hovhannisyan on several occasions appealed to camera operators, asking them to catch the voting process on camera.
No deputies raised any concerns immediately following the voting process.
Recall, the bill allows the president to enlist the help of Armenia’s Armed Forces to restore order during a state of emergency if police and national security forces are unable to cope with the situation. As reported earlier by RFE/RL’s Armenian service, “the bill stipulates that the president of the republic can call a state of emergency in case of an ‘immediate danger to constitutional order,’ including attempts to forcibly seize power, terrorism and ‘mass disturbances’ […] In that case, military personnel would be allowed to use riot equipment and live ammunition in accordance with an Armenian law on the police.”