YEREVAN. – Armenian National Assembly (NA) Speaker Samvel Nikoyan considered it incorrect to put the bill on the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency to a vote on Tuesday.   

In response to a question asked during a briefing at NA as to why the aforesaid draft law was not voted on, Nikoyan noted: “And who said that the bill was to be put to a vote?”  

As per Nikoyan, NA itself decides the succession of the matters being examined and voted on. And now, he “found it to be inappropriate to put the bill to a vote.” In any case, Nikoyan will put it to a vote on Wednesday morning.   

Samvel Nikoyan also confessed that he reached this decision by taking into account the actual number of MPs present in the Sessions’ Hall.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Armenia’s National Assembly postponed the voting for the bill on the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency. The NA’s second-hearing voting for the draft law was to take place on Tuesday, but, prior to the voting,  the ruling coalition’s Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Parliamentary Faction asked for a 20-minute recess to obtain quorum. And following the recess, NA Speaker Samvel Nikoyan announced that the bill’s voting is postponed. 

In its first hearing, the controversial draft law passed with a vote of 67 for, 1 against, and with no abstentions.   

The opposition considers this law proposal to be unacceptable, noting that the latter curtails the parliament’s power, and a precedent is set for using the armed forces in domestic politics, which is inconsistent with the country’s Constitution.