STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING IN KARABAKH PARLIAMENT

Lragir/am
22 March 06

On March 22 the NKR National Assembly discussed the amendments to the
law on the National Assembly and the bylaws of the parliament. It was
proposed to dissolve the presidency of the National Assembly and set
up an advisory body from the leaders of the groups and factions. There
are two factions in the parliament of Karabakh with 33 seats, the
Democratic Party and the Azat Hayrenik Party, and the parliamentary
group of the alliance ARF-Movement 88.

Twenty-two members of parliament are elected from constituencies and
eleven are elected under the majority system.

The authors of the bill think that the replacement of the presidency
with the advisory body would transform the NKR parliament into a
political body.

Member of Parliament Vahram Atanesyan thinks the amendments
are necessary but it is better to wait until the adoption of the
Constitution. Gagik Petrosyan, the author of the bill, reminded that
there is not a fixed date of adoption of the constitution, which has
been worked out for a long time now. Speaker Ashot Ghulyan stated that
the ideas are acceptable but the mechanisms have not been worked out
clearly. “Changes in this manner will hardly improve the efficiency
of the National Assembly,” said Ashot Ghulyan. The debates on the
bill have brought about strange things. The leader of the Hayrenik
faction Arthur Tovmasyan proposed to withdraw the question from
the agenda. In answer to this Gagik Petrosyan, a member of the same
faction, demanded to ask the opinion of the authors first. Arthur
Tovmasyan left the hall.

Gagik Petrosyan proposed to recall the bill for further
elaboration. This step did not answer several questions,
however. Particularly, in the past ten days President Ghukasyan met
with the leadership of the parliament and, according to the scarce
information, discussed questions connected with the parliament. The
president also summoned up a meeting of the Constitutional Commission.

It is obvious that a process of strengthening power has started,
which was reflected in the March 22 meeting of the parliament.