ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS GOVERNMENT FORMATION BILL IN FIRST READING

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Feb 12 2007

YEREVAN, February 12. /ARKA/. The Armenian parliament rejected
the bill on the formation of the Armenian Government in the first
reading. Fifty Parliament members voted for the bill, with three
abstentions, the necessary quorum being 66 parliament members.

Before the voting, Speaker Tigran Torosyan reported that the Government
renamed the bill "On formation and resignation of Government"
"Government formation standards". One point, according to which,
"the Government is considered to be formed if all the Government
members have been appointed" has been incorporated into the new bill.

However, the parliamentarians did not approve the new version and
demanded a new discussion because the new bill is seriously different
from its predecessor and does not set any mechanisms of forming the
executive power.

As a result, the parliamentary faction of the United Worker’s Party,
as well as the "Justice" and "National Unity" factions did not
participate in the voting.

Commenting on the situation, Speaker Torosyan said that the Government
will have to convene a special parliamentary session to re-submit the
bill to Parliament. Since the parliamentary elections are scheduled
for May 12, and a new Government is to be formed too little time is
left for the adoption of the bill. According to the initial wording,
if the Government resigns, a new cabinet must be formed by the RA
President within 20 days after the appointment of the RA Premier. The
bill also allowed a person with dual citizenship to be appointed a
Government member.

The current Law "On formation and resignation of Government" was
adopted in 1998. Constitutional reforms necessitated the adoption of
a new one.