YEREVAN. – People fighting against the new law on cumulative pensions and representatives of the four non-coalition factions of the Armenian National Assembly (NA) are gathering at Liberty Square in capital city Yerevan on Tuesday. (PHOTOS)

Subsequently, they will march from the square to the Constitutional Court (CC) building, where they will read their statement against the pension reforms, which will enter into force on January 1, 2014

The number of signs that read “I’m against” and “Stop” is gradually increasing at Liberty Square. 

At present, there are about 600-700 people at the square, the Armenian News-NEWS.am reporter informs. 

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the four non-coalition NA factions—specifically, Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, and Heritage—on Monday submitted to NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan a letter of appeal addressed to the CC. According to the procedure, the NA is obligated to submit this petition to the CC within 24 hours. 

Representatives from the three of the four aforementioned National Assembly factions will be at the Constitutional Court. They will litigate the constitutionality of several provisions in the bill on cumulative pensions; specifically, they will demand the removal of the mandatory component from the proposed law.

The new cumulative pension plan—which will come into force on January 1, 2014—will be mandatory for those born in and after 1974 and voluntary for those born before 1974. In line with this plan, 5 to 10 percent of the monthly salaries in Armenia will be deducted and mandatorily be allocated to cumulative pension funds; the latter will be reimbursed as pensions once a person turns 63 years old.