NA SPEAKER CALLS TWO ARFD CHAIRMEN OF STANDING COMMITTEES FOR WITHDRAWING THEIR APPLICATIONS ON RESIGNATION

NOYAN TAPAN
APRIL 29, 2009
YEREVAN

RA NA Speaker Hovik Abrahamian at the April 29 sitting proposed
Artur Aghabekian, the Chairman of the Standing Committee of Defence,
National Security and Internal Affairs, and Armen Rustamian, the
Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, withdrawing
their applications on resignation. NA Vice-Speaker Hrayr Karapetian
also introduced a resignation conditioned by the ARFD decision on
coming out of the coalition on April 27.

The NA Speaker said that the Armenian parliament had precedents when
opposition representatives headed standing committees, and such a
possibility is also given by the amendments made to the NA Regulations
in 2008 October. According to H. Abrahamian, though these amendments
will work for the parliament of next convocation, today the political
coalition calls the ARFD faction for withdrawing the applications on
committee chairmen’s resignation.

In response to the proposal ARFD faction head, party Bureau member
Vahan Hovhannisian thanked the NA Speaker and the political coalition
for the proposal and on behalf of the faction promised to study the
proposal and to submit the answer to the parliament.