Parliament Postpones Second Reading of Emergency Rule Bill

The National Assembly of Armenia today postponed voting on a controversial bill regulating the rule of law during a state of emergency, a move parliamentary opposition parties say proves that the Republican Party of Armenia doesn’t want to have the voting when there is an insufficient number of HHK lawmakers in parliament to adopt the bill at its second reading.

Recall, the bill regulating the introduction and enforcement of a state of emergency was already adopted by the National Assembly in the first reading less than a month ago. As RFE/RL’s Armenian service reported, the government withdrew and modified it after being accused of preparing ground for future use of the armed forces against political dissent.

Under the law, the president of the republic can turn to the military for help if police and other security forces are unable to enforce emergency rule. In that case, military personnel will be allowed to use riot equipment and live ammunition in accordance with an Armenian law on the police.

As reported by the Epress.am correspondent in parliament today, National Assembly chair Samvel Nikoyan, announced a 20-minute recess after which the bill, along with other bills, was to be put to a vote. Though the other bills were voted on, when it came time to vote on this bill, the parliamentary speaker decided to stop voting for the day.

Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) faction leader Vahan Hovhannesyan (widely spelled as Hovhannisyan) said the bill was deliberately not put to a vote so it wouldn’t be defeated because there were too few HHK lawmakers (who would likely vote in favor of the bill in line with their party’s position).

“Isn’t it clear that it’s not a good law? Why do you absolutely want to adopt [the bill] by force? Let them take it back again,” he said.

The parliamentary speaker, in turn, said the bill would be voted on when “we consider it expedient.”

Heritage Party faction leader Stepan (Styopa) Safaryan pointed out that there were no problems related to voting on the other bills.

“You held voting on more than a dozen items, and you didn’t postpone their voting. This means that the bill on the rule of law during a state of emergency is directly endangered — in terms of not only adoption, but also its future activity. I urge you once and for all to reject the idea of putting it to a vote and I advise the parliamentary majority to take action to withdraw the bill,” he said.

Parliamentary vice chair, HHK MP Eduard Sharmazanov, in turn, however, denied the allegations the bill was postponed due to fewer HHK lawmakers present during voting.

“The National Assembly chairmanship operates within its scope and if a voting or an action doesn’t stem from the interests of a political party, whether it be an opposition or ruling party, it doesn’t mean that it is a violation of the parliament’s rules of procedure. It doesn’t mean that if any bill doesn’t stem from the opposition’s interests then it is anti-democratic,” he said.