YEREVAN. – On the very first day of the new Armenian parliament of the Fifth Convocation ruling coalition and opposition MPs argued over an issue.

During the formation of the standing committees, ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP David Harutyunyan said that the number of the standing committees will remain unchanged – 12. In response ARF Dashnaktsutyun MP Armen Rustamyan said that, according to the law, each group should have at least one representative in each committee. Hence ARFD and Heritage parties cover 10 committees at most, as they have five MPs each and each MP can be in no more than two committees.

Anyway Harutyunyan said that Constitution, which states the number of standing committees in the parliament, is above the law, so the number remained unchanged. ARFD another MP Vahan Hovhannisyan said that the opposition voice is significantly lower in the new parliament. At the same time, he added that he ‘comprehends’ the idea that the majority should have more seats in the committees.

Photo by Sona Barseghyan