The Armenian Parliament has approved today the government’s program of activities designed for 2021-2026 by a vote of 70.
The parliamentary opposition boycotted the voting. The head of the Hayastan (Armenia) alliance Seyran Ohanyan stated that the government's program is not in tune with the current situation in the country.
The program consists of 6 sections: security and foreign policy, economy, development of infrastructures and human capital, law and justice, and institutional development.
The debates on the program were interrupted by scuffles between the pro-government and opposition lawmakers, who hurled at each other bottles and chairs.
The Office of Armenia’s Prosecutor General said it will order an inquiry into two scuffles provoked by MPs in the parliament. It said a preliminary study of the video recordings of August 25 session shows that some lawmakers demonstrated behavior that is unbecoming of the representative of the legislative body and disrespectful attitude towards the citizens watching the session live, which was accompanied by obscene expressions and the use of violence.
Taking this into account, the Prosecutor General referred the video recordings to the Special Investigation Service for the legal assessment of the incident.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party won 53.91% of the votes in the June 20 snap parliamentary elections and controls 71 seats in the new National Assembly. The Hayastan (Armenia) alliance, headed by a former president Robert Kocharyan controls 29 seats (21.09% of the votes) and another alliance called Pativ Unem (I Have the Honor), led by Artur Vanetsyan, former chief of the National Security Service, has 7 seats (5.52%).
Earlier, during the presentation of the government program Pashinyan said that Armenia is ready to open regional communications with Azerbaijan. "As Armenia should get a road to Russia and Iran through the territory of Azerbaijan, so Azerbaijan should get a road for communications with its eastern regions [from exclave Nakhchivan to the main territory of the country] through the territory of Armenia," Pashinyan stressed.
The PM also noted that demarcation and delimitation of borders with Azerbaijan must be started as quickly as possible. "I regret that due to political noise it wasn’t possible to achieve the planned result in the spring. The unstable situation on a number of sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border is a serious threat to the start of these processes," Pashinyan noted.
