YEREVAN. – People fighting against the new law on cumulative pensions and representatives of the four non-coalition factions of the Armenian National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday started their march from Liberty Square in capital city Yerevan to the Constitutional Court (CC) building. (PHOTOS)

Several hundred people and representatives of the four NA factions—specifically, Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, and Heritage—are participating in the march that was launched by these factions. 

The march is led by ordinary citizens, who stated that this demonstration is a demand for the establishment of social justice in Armenia.  

The demonstrators are marching toward the CC building, where they will read their statement against the pension reforms, which will enter into force on January 1, 2014, and demand that the respective CC session be held openly.   

A large number of police officers are overseeing the march, but they are not obstructing its progress.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the four non-coalition NA factions 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.