BILL "ON FORMATION AND RESIGNATION OF GOVERNMENT" HAS MANY SHORTCOMINGS, RA NA SPEAKER CONSIDERS MEANWHILE PROPOSING ADOPTING IT IN FIRST READING
Noyan Tapan
Feb 06 2007
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, NOYAN TAPAN. At the February 6 sitting RA
National Assembly in first reading discussed the bill "On Formation
and Resignation of Government." The adoption of the latter proceeds
from 2005 constitutional amendments.
As RA NA Speaker Tigran Torosian said in his speech, the bill presented
by the government contains only some parts from Constitution’s
provisions relating to the matter, while it should have contained the
constitutional approach rendering more concrete the mechanisms. In his
words, it is unacceptable that the principles and order of government’s
formation are not stipulated by the draft, but in consideration of
lack of time in connection with the May 12 parliamentary elections,
he proposed adopting in first reading "this draft having many
shortcomings" and revising it fundamentally until second reading.
According to the draft law, in case of government’s resignation the
government is formed by the President within 20 days’ term after
appointing a Prime Minister. While by the constitutional amendments
the President on the basis of distribution of deputy seats at NA
and consultations with deputy factions appoints as a Prime Minister
a person enjoying confidence among majority of MPs and if this is
impossible, a person having received simple majority of deputies’
votes.
According to another requirement of the Constitution, the Prime
Minister and Ministers should be RA citizens. But the main reporter of
the draft, RA Deputy Minister of Justice Gevorg Malkhasian stated that
the government proposed voting the draft without the above mentioned
provision until the law "On Citizenship" is adopted.
This proposal of government especially made indignant ULP faction
head Gurgen Arsenian who considered the above mentioned approach of
government to be strange, "containing undercurrent" and inadmissible
for him. In his words, exclusion of above mentioned provision from
the draft will become a subject of legal litigation in the future. He
threatened that he will vote against the bill if it is put to voting
in the above mentioned form.