ARF FACTION TO SUBMIT A NUMBER OF LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES DURING
FORTHCOMING NA SESSION

YEREVAN, February 4 (Noyan Tapan). The ARF Dashnaktsutiun is going to
continue working out the bill “On Lobbying” during the forthcoming NA
session. Hrayr Karapetian, Head of NA ARF faction, reported during the
February 3 press conference that issues connected with opportunities
and limits of lobbying carried out by high-ranking officials are
important from point of view of anti-corruption struggle. The head of
the faction said that though the government rejected the bill
submitted in November 2004 ARF managed to prove the necessity of this
law and it was decided to submit a bill worked out jointly with the
government. Harayr Karapetian also said that the party submits the
bill “On Guards Service” for the discussion of the parliament. In
order to raise the level of birth-rate in the republic the
Dashnaktsutiun proposes a bill envisaging to allocate lump sum
financial assistance to the families in case of birth of third child
and more than 3 children. The law “On Territorial Government” is also
among the legislative initiatives of ARF. According to Hrayr
Karapetian, under the conditions of legislative deficiency this sphere
is only regulated by the decrees of the president. Levon Mkrtchian,
Secretary of the faction, said that the faction attaches importance to
its participation in the process of introduction of amendments to the
Electoral Code. According to him, this is necessary for holding the
next elections in Armenia in accordance with democratic principles.

Touching upon the constitutional reform Levon Mkrtchian stressed the
importance of opposition’s participation in the discussion. At the
same time he mentioned that ARF considers it inadmissible to use the
issue of constitutional reform for other political purposes. Mkrtchian
stressed that the political situation has changed since the
Dashnaktsutiun proposed that the opposition should participate in the
discussions even by the right of veto.