11:38, 8 October, 2021
YEREVAN, OCTOBER 8, ARMENPRESS. The two opposition blocs of the Armenian parliament – Hayastan and Pativ Unem – have applied to the Constitutional Court to dispute the constitutionality of the government-backed community enlargement bill passed by parliament on September 24.
Hayastan MP Artsvik Minasyan said they’ve formally submitted the application with the required 1/5th of lawmakers.
Minasyan also accused President Armen Sarkissian for signing the bill into law, describing the move “unconstitutional”.
The new law will merge 441 communities into 37 enlarged communities. The government says that the current administrative divisions hinder community development, especially in cases of communities which have a population below 3000. But opposition lawmakers say the community enlargement is politically motivated and the incumbent authorities seek to strengthen their positions in all territories.
The bill was adopted by parliament on September 27 with only the ruling party taking part in the voting. The opposition blocs boycotted the vote.
Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
