Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
New tendencies on a slight equalizing of the influence of the authorities and the opposition on the situation in the National Assembly, which has always been the most important lever of the power, are appearing in Armenia. It is confirmed by events over another session of the National Assembly which took place last week. The parliamentary majority approved a packet of draft bills, including an amended draft on funding pensions.
Representatives of four opposition parties (Dashnaktsutyun, the Armenian National Congress, Heritage and Prosperous Armenia) took advantage of the situation on June 18th when only 63 MPs of the majority party were present at the session, didn’t register, and the session failed due to the lack of a quorum. The same situation occurred on June 19th.
Only on June 20th did the National Assembly manage to adopt the amended draft on funding pensions, with 67 MPs voting for it. On June 21st it was adopted in the second reading. The opposition boycotted the vote, as in the new draft obligatory payments are not cancelled, they are simply transformed into social payments. Moreover, the opposition accused MPs of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia of voting on behalf of absent MPs. According to the opposition, only 64 MPs from the RPA were present at the session, rather than 67. Representatives of the opposition quartet say that the procedure of adoption of the draft and the absence of sufficient public discussion of it give them grounds to address the Constitutional Court. The parliamentary majority accused the quartet of blackmail and attempting to break up a session of the National Assembly. The reason for the problems the authorities are facing is that the number of RPA MPs in the parliament is 70, which is almost equal to the minimum number of votes which are necessary for decision-making – 66.
Despite official propaganda from the authorities, the invincibility of the RPA and the weakness of the opposition, real processes are becoming more and more clear. The grounds for the processes are the adoption of several unpopular decisions by the authorities and their unprofessionalism in settling urgent socio-economic problems. The difficult socio-economic situation influences many RPA members who own businesses. It leads to the occurrence of problems inside the power structures. Some observers speak about an upcoming crisis inside the RPA.
A new internal political situation is being formed for various reasons. The balance between the authorities and the opposition is drawing close to 50/50.
