Dashnak MP Hopes Ruling Party MPs will Tire and Leave Parliament So Bill can be Defeated

The bill regulating rule of law during a state of emergency, the voting of which was postponed yesterday, will be put to a vote in the National Assembly today, it was announced after the parliamentary meeting began.

Recall, parliamentary opposition parties the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D) and the Heritage Party yesterday accused the parliamentary chairmanship of deliberately postponing the vote because there were not enough Republican Party of Armenia lawmakers and the bill might’ve been defeated.

Today, however, it was ARF-D faction leader Vahan Hovhannesyan (widely spelled as Hovhannisyan) who asked for a 20-minute recess prior to voting on the bill.

Asked why, Hovhannesyan said: “Our hope is that many of our National Assembly’s ruling party MPs won’t dedicate themselves to more than 20–30 minutes of work in parliament. And now they’ll be tired, quorum will be reduced and the bill won’t be passed.”