YEREVAN. – The “Dem Em [I am against]” civic initiative, which opposes the new pension law in Armenia, will not attend Friday’s public meeting organized by the opposition Heritage Party,

Initiative member Hayk Avetisyan told the abovementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

“We will gather at the Constitutional Court on [Friday,] March 28, and will not participate in [Heritage’s chairman, ex-presidential candidate, former FM] Raffi Hovannisian’s rally. In addition, some of our youth will attend the trial,” Avetisyan said.

It is yet unknown whether the four non-ruling-coalition parliamentary forces—i.e., the Armenian National Congress, Prosperous Armenia, ARF Dashnaktsutyun, and Heritage—will join “Dem Em.” 

At the civic initiative’s public meeting on 22 March, Hovannisian had invited everyone to his rally on Friday.

The new funded pension plan, which formally came into force in Armenia on January 1, 2014, is 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.      

On January 24, however, the Constitutional Court decided to suspend the execution of some components in the Law on Funded Pensions pending the hearing—on Friday—of the petition submitted by the four non-ruling-coalition parliamentary forces, and into the constitutionality of the several articles of the law.

Notwithstanding this, some employers already are deducting the mandatory pension payment from the salaries of their employees.