ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT ELECTS NEW SPEAKER

RIA Novosti, Russia
June 1 2006

YEREVAN, June 1 (RIA Novosti) – Armenia’s parliament, the National
Assembly, elected a new speaker Thursday following the resignation
of the previous incumbent in May.

The new man is 50-year-old Tigran Torosyan, the head of Armenia’s
delegation at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
and deputy chairman of the country’s Republican Party.

Torosyan’s name was the only one put forward for the position and was
backed by five parliamentary groups, although two opposition factions
refused to take part in the voting.

Artur Bagdasaryan resigned from the post after his party announced
on May 11 that it was pulling out of the ruling coalition.