YEREVAN. – Armenia’s National Assembly voted, in its first hearing on Thursday, in favor of the bill on the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency. The controversial draft law passed with a vote of 67 for, 1 against, and with no abstentions.   

Solely the ruling coalition voted for the bill, whereas the parliamentary opposition Heritage and ARF Dashnaktsutyun parties’ MPs did not take part in the voting.    

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.