The administration of the governing “Civil Agreement” party has decided on the candidates for the positions of the chairmen of the standing committees of the National Assembly of Armenia.

Nazeli Baghdasaryan was nominated for the position of the chairman of the permanent committee on labor and social issues. The Standing Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sports was proposed to be headed by Sisak Gabrielyan, and the Standing Committee on Health Affairs by Lusine Badalyan.

Sona Ghazaryan was nominated for the position of the chairman of the Standing Committee on European Integration, and Sargis Khandanyan for the position of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations.

In addition, Zaruhi Batoyan was elected as a candidate for the chairman of the Standing Committee on Human Rights Protection and Public Affairs.

Vilen Gabrielyan became the candidate for the chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security Affairs of the National Assembly, and Arusyak Julhakyan became the candidate for the chairman of the Standing Committee on State-Legal Affairs. 

Trdat Sargsyan was nominated as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Regional and Eurasian Integration, Vahe Ghalumyan was nominated to the Standing Committee on Territorial Management and Environmental Protection, Babken Tunyan was nominated to the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, and Tsovinar Vardanyan was nominated to the Standing Committee on Fiscal and Budgetary Affairs. 

The final decision on the appointment of the presidents of the commissions will be made by the National Assembly in accordance with the established procedure.

 In a conversation with journalists, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that this decision does not mean that all the candidates presented will be elected presidents of the commissions. According to him, the final picture also depends on the fact that the opposition factions will choose the leadership of the permanent commissions.

To the journalists’ question whether the government has already decided which two commissions will be reserved for the opposition, Pashinyan answered that the matter has not yet been finally closed.

“We had a discussion, there is a decision, but since there is still time, certain adjustments are possible, so I don’t want to announce it now,” he said.

Turning to the question of why Vilen Gabrielyan defeated Armen Khachatryan and Sasun Mikayelyan was not elected during the election of the KP board, Pashinyan noted that in a number of cases the fight between the candidates was quite equal.

According to him, the elections were held by closed secret ballot, and there was no unanimously elected candidate. In some cases, a second round was also necessary, and the difference between several candidates was only one vote, 9 to 10.

Pashinyan also drew attention to the fact that gender balance was maintained among the nominated candidates: six women and six men. According to him, there was no special trend, and such a result was formed exclusively as a result of closed voting.

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