Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
The National Assembly of Armenia (NA) elected the head of the faction of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), Galusta Saakyan, to the speaker’s position. His only rival was a member of the opposition faction of the Armenian National Congress (ANC), Grant Bagratyan. Only three MPs out of 106 voted for Bagratyan, who didn’t agreed his independent nomination with the ANC.
A day before the elections the NA approved the RPA’s proposal on a reshuffle in the Audit Commission and changes in the proportion of its participants. Now the Audit Commission should include 13 members instead of the previous 11 members, the majority of them (7 people) are MPs from the RPA.
The situation became difficult for the ruling party after the Rule of Law party withdrew from the coalition. And the Republicans faced the problem of maintaining a majority in the Audit Commission. On April 28th the RPA carried out the necessary changes and held the demanded seats. At the same time, the law on National Assembly regulations forbids forming a new Audit Commission before the end of a parliamentary session.
Along with victorious statements by the authorities, who ascribe the victory to the wonderful personal skills of Galust Saakyan, the question is: why did the invincible RPA and its sinless candidate need urgent changes to the law? The answer is obvious – for guaranteeing “normal” voting and counting votes within the framework of the well-regulated electoral technologies provided by the authorities.
Of course a certain number of MPs from Prosperous Armenia and Rule of Law voted for Saakyan, but this circumstance doesn’t play a big role for the RPA, which has to act under a new balance of forces and new conditions.
