YEREVAN. – In its third and final hearing, Armenia’s National Assembly (NA) passed the bill on the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency.

The ruling coalition MPs approved this draft law with 67 votes in its favor, whereas the parliamentary opposition ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Heritage factions—just like in the morning session—did not participate in the voting. 

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, in its second hearing on Wednesday morning, NA likewise had passed this bill. The Government’s coalition forces had voted in favor of the draft law, whereas the parliamentary opposition ARF Dashnaktsutyun and Heritage factions had not participated in the voting. 

In the second hearing, the bill on the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency was adopted with 68 votes in favor. The coalition was able to obtain quorum, at the Sessions’ Hall, and put the law proposal to vote.

Prior to the voting, however, ARF had asked for a 20-minute recess, thereby attempting to block the bill’s passing, but it was unsuccessful. 

To note, the draft law’s second-hearing voting was to be conducted on Tuesday, but NA Speaker Samvel Nikoyan, who was hesitant that it would pass on that day, had postponed the voting until Wednesday.

And in its first hearing, the controversial draft law had 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 that a precedent is set for using the armed forces in domestic politics, which is inconsistent with the country’s Constitution.