TIGRAN TOROSYAN ELECTED AS ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER

Regnum, Russia
June 7 2007

Republican Tigran Torosyan has been elected as the speaker of the
Armenian parliament today. The election was uncontested. From 114
MPs, who participated in the secret ballot, 112 voted for approving
Torosyan as speaker, 2 were against it, a REGNUM correspondent informs.

As Tigran Torosyan announced that the parliamentary elections in
Armenia met democratic standards. At the same time, he expressed
confidence that next elections "will be better." "For the 15 years
since Armenian independence foundation was laid and all attributes of
the statehood established. Macroeconomic indices that we reached for
the last six-seven years, allow us being proud of the country." He
reminded that the previous parliament made an important step by
elaborating amendments to the constitution. "The amendments will more
and more influence development of civil society," Torosyan noted.

Speaking on priority tasks of the parliament, he noted that in order
to augment the economic successes, it is necessary, first of all,
stir social and political reforms. "The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is
still a priority problem today. In this connection, activity of the
MPs is very important. Armenia has parliamentary missions in various
international institutions, but it is needed for their effective
work that the parliament also carries out great work on the issue,"
Torosyan said.

It is worth mentioning, opposition parties Orinats Yerkir and
The Heritage refused to take part in the first session of the new
parliament today, during which the voting on Torosyan’s candidature was
held. Both parties together have 15 seats in the 131-seat parliament.

Tirgan Torosyan was elected as parliamentary speaker and thus preserved
the post since June 2006. In 2006, the position became vacant after
Artur Bagdassaryan resigned and the Orinats Yerkir party led by him
announced it was leaving the ruling coalition and switched to the
opposition camp.