YREVAN. – Hraparak daily of Armenia writes: Yesterday, as required by the law, a special session of the NA [(National Assembly)] Council was convened, on the agenda of which was put the matter of stripping 33 opposition MPs of their [parliamentary] mandate. The CC [i.e., the Civil Contract ruling] majority [faction] had to decide whether or not to petition to the Constitutional Court on the matter of stripping the oppositionists of their [parliamentary] mandate.
The law requires that the MPs whose matter is to be examined come to the session, if they do not come, the session is postponed for a week, then it is discussed a second time in their absence. The oppositionists had not come to the session yesterday, so this matter will be discussed after 1 week. However, our sources in the authorities say that in all probability, the CC will not make a decision on the matter of the opposition, although there is a radical wing in the faction, which demands that at least 10-15 [opposition] MPs be stripped of their [parliamentary] mandate.
The thing is that recently the NA CC faction discussed the matters of depriving from [parliamentary] positions and stripping of [parliamentary] mandate of the oppositionists. They were united in the matter of depriving [them of] the [parliamentary] positions, but no decision was taken in the matter of mandates. Most of the [CC] faction was against the process of stripping [them] of the [parliamentary] mandate, believing that, firstly, this step by the [incumbent Armenian] authorities which declared themselves a people's bastion would not be well understood by international organizations, secondly, they have had doubts that the Constitutional Court would consider that the oppositionists were engaged in political activities outside the parliament, so they will consider it a political boycott and deny their [i.e., the CC faction’s aforesaid] petition.
Basically, today it is being discussed whether the NA is an establishment or a political body. If it is an establishment, then absent workers can be fired. If it is a political body, boycott is one of the most accepted forms of political fight.
