Parliament sitting thwarted because of lack of quorum

Hardly had the National Assembly started its special sitting today when it was interrupted for 20 minutes.  Then the second break followed, again for 20 minutes. The first time, the meeting was discontinued at the request of opposition lawmaker Levon Zurabyan who announced at the beginning of the sitting that the bills once talked about enhancing the role of the legislature. Secretary of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) Aghvan Vardanyan said, in turn, that MPs were not familiar with the bills that had received wide publicity. Gagik Jhangiryan, a lawmaker of the Armenian National Congress (HAK), added that most of the issues had not been discussed in corresponding committees. HAK secretary Aram Manukyan also expressed dissatisfaction saying they did not have time to get familiarized with the bills. “In order to pass a law, one should be familiar with its content. Ask the government to recall part of the bills so that we can be able to study the others.” Vardan Ayvazyan, a lawmaker of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) disagreed with the opposition lawmakers.  “We have discussed 70 percent of the bills. If you have a loss of memory I can present them to you,” he said. Parliament Speaker Galust Sahakyan announced that there had been no violation: the government had submitted draft laws and the National Assembly should put them under discussion. When asking for a recess, Head of the HAK faction Levon Zurabyan said that the heads of factions should discuss the matter with the parliament speaker. After the break, the legislative body passed one of the bills and rejected two others. Seeing that fewer Republican MPs remained in the hall, Galust Sahakyan had to adjourn the sitting.