Armenia’s Parliamentary Speaker Won’t Be Reprimanding MPs Who Voted

ARMENIA’S PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER WON’T BE REPRIMANDING MPS WHO VOTED FOR THEIR COLLEAGUES

epress.am
02.21.2012

At a consultation called by Republic of Armenia (RA) National Assembly
(NA) Speaker Samvel Nikoyan today, discussed among other items was the
document sent to the RA NA Speaker by the RA Special Investigation
Service related to an incident in parliament on Feb. 9 whereby MPs
Ara Babloyan, Hermine Naghdalyan, Gagik Melikyan and Areg Ghukasyan
could be seen voting in place of their absent colleagues.

During the discussion it was noted that the items mentioned in
the document are regulated under Articles 45, 56 and 61 of the RA
Law on Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly. In particular,
Paragraph 2.3 of Article 56 stipulates that the deputy shall propose
to restore the results of the voting on the electric display by
speech on the order of conducting the sitting and express opinion
about the violations during voting, according to a statement issued
by the National Assembly.

In this particular parliamentary sitting during voting Larisa
Alaverdyan, delivering her speech in the order of conducting, noted
a deputy’s name, saying that he has voted instead of another, but
she didn’t propose to restore the results of voting on the electric
display. The person presiding over the sitting, taking into account
the results of voting, and the fact that the mentioned case does
not essentially have an impact on the results of voting, did not
announce re-voting.

Regarding mentions of violations of the Rules of Procedure made
by the deputies during the sitting, it’s a fact that besides the
above-mentioned case concretely no other deputies’ names have been
stated. Hence, the person presiding over the sitting, on the basis
of Paragraph 3 of Article 45 of the RA Law on Rules of Procedure of
the National Assembly, hasn’t applied disciplinary measures towards
the deputies, simply urging lawmakers not to vote for their colleagues.

During the consultation, emphasizing the exclusion of such cases,
it was noted that among the functions of the Committee on Ethics,
created as a result of the amendment to the RA Law on Rules of
Procedure of the National Assembly, are issues concerning rules on
the behavior of deputies and that effective mechanisms are designed
to prevent a repeat of such behavior.

As a result of discussion, the RA National Assembly Speaker Samvel
Nikoyan decided to appeal to the RA National Assembly factions,
urging them to work on excluding such phenomena from now on.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress