TIGRAN TOROSYAN’S DOUBLE RESIGNATION
Lilit Poghosyan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
17 Sep 2008
Armenia

TIGRAN TOROSYAN yesterday astonished many people. Before the RPA
Council could approve or reject the Executive Body’s decision on the
inexpediency of his remaining in office, he convened a press conference
in the afternoon and declared of his intention of resigning from the
post of the NA Speaker and quitting the ranks of the party.

Publicizing this "hard decision" which, though somewhat unexpected,
was not quite unpredictable, T. Torosyan actually chose the option
of quitting the arena in a "beautiful" way, so to say. Having the
opportunity to further his career in politics in some other more
or less "prestigious" position, he preferred the status of an
independent MP.

Substantiating the decision of handing in a "double resignation"
as a result of the long-term behind-the-scene discussions on the
replacement of the NA Speaker, T. Torosyan particularly said, "A few
days ago, the President of the Republic, who is also the Head of the
party, expressed his viewpoint regarding the issue. The picture, I
think, is quite enough for drawing relevant conclusions. Definitely,
what happened was a previously planned process which pursued a very
simple goal. For three-four months, everything was being done through
behind-the-scene frauds and intrigues."

T. Torosya n considers all this unacceptable in terms of both the
form and the content.

"Only at the beginning of September did this ‘process’ become a formal
political issue and was discussed in the session of the party’s
Executive Body, with the outcome being previously known. There
were people who just displayed an immoral conduct, falsifying both
the course of the developments and the voting and presented an
absolutely different outcome. I don’t think this can bring credit to
any representative of the party.

The statements on this issue being the party’s internal problem
are also of a formal nature, and I am sure they are ungrounded. The
internal problems are first discussed inside the party, and then the
members make decisions instead of being involved in some process in
other places and in other ways for several months, eventually leading
to the party’s intervention in putting an end to all this."

The argument that handing over the post of the NA Speaker to Hovik
Abrahamyan is dictated by the concern of raising the efficiency
of the National Assembly’s work doesn’t seem convincing to our
interlocutor. "Neither the National Assembly or the party has ever
discussed the issue of raising the efficiency of the NA Speaker’s
work."

And besides, while discussing the efficiency of work, it is necessary
to at least mention "the efficiency of what sh ould be raised or what
it is that doesn’t have the required efficiency," Mr. Torosyan said,
adding that "over the past two years, the National Assembly has worked
in an overloaded regime, and I believe, quite efficiently."

For his former partisan colleagues who speak about discipline,
T. Torosyan pointed out that there was a violation of the RPA
Charter. According to the Charter, the Executive Body may propose
a candidate for any post but never make a decision on removing
anyone. This is the first thing to say. The second thing is that the
decision of the executive body has no legal force unless approved by
the council.

In short, considering the internal "disagreements that had already
become insurmountable, I made that step in the morning, as this
was something that any reasonable person would have done under the
circumstances. I submitted a notice to the party on my intention of
quitting the ranks of the party under clause 2.6 of the Charter. There
is no other procedure prescribed by the charter of the party,"
Mr. Torosyan noted

Consequently, we can already consider the matter exhausted even in a
situation when "I do not conceal the fact that it is difficult for me
to quit the party after the long way I have passed. But one must be
able to see the reality the way it is and draw the right conclusions."

Is it possible for the other RPA members=2 0- the co-thinkers of
the former Speaker, to follow his example, i.e. to quit the ranks of
the party? In response to this question, Mr. Torosyan said, "I have
never had co-thinkers inside the party. I had fellow partisans and
friends. And today too, I have a lot of friends. I have never supported
the idea of forming some wings, ‘tails’ and other parts inside the
party and have never been engaged in any activity of the kind.

Each member affiliates with the party on individual bases and makes
decisions on individual bases too.

Therefore, I have no intention to initiate any process of the kind. It
is up to each person to make decisions, depending on how he/she sees
the present and the future. Both membership and the decisions of
quitting the party is matter of individual choice."

Based on the same argument, i.e. the insurmountable political discords
with the parliamentary majority, T. Torosyan wrote a notice on his
intention of resigning from the post of the NA Speaker. "Under Article
20 of the Charter, the notice on handing in a resignation is submitted
to the person presiding over the session. This person publicizes
it and then, in case of submitting the second notice within the
following 5 days, the resignation is considered accepted. Otherwise,
the person presiding over the session informs the National Assembly
about this, and the NA Speaker’s notice on resigning fr om his/her
post is considered null and void. This is the procedure."

As to the issue of remaining on the "pro-Government front" or
replenishing the ranks of the opposition, the speaker doesn’t see
any problem in this regard. Being an independent MP, he will no
longer have to "proofread" his decision. "I will be freer and will
express my views to the full. I think this is also interesting. So,
everything will be all right."