YEREVAN. – The newly elected National Assembly (NA) of Armenia on Tuesday continues its first session which kicked off Monday.

The parliament on Monday unanimously elected Ararat Mirzoyan as NA Speaker.

The debates on the election of the deputy speakers, however, has resumed Tuesday.

The parliamentary majority “My Step” Faction has nominated Lena Nazaryan and Alen Simonyan as the two NA pro-government deputy speakers, whereas two candidates—Vahe Enfiajyan from the “Prosperous Armenia” [Party (PAP)] Faction, and Mane Tandilyan from the “Bright Armenia” [Party] Faction—are vying for the post of deputy speaker from the opposition factions.

In terms of the NA deputy speaker from the opposition, “My Step” Faction has decided to vote for the PAP’s candidate, since this political force has the bigger faction.

There are several other matters on the agenda of this session: Creation of the NA standing committees; election of chairpersons of the NA standing committees; the matter of approval of the government program; and debating on the bill with respect to making changes in the makeup of the government—and according to which, the number of ministries are planned to be reduced from 17 down to 12.