National Assembly rejects Nikol Pashinyan's initiative on presidential impeachment (video)
With a vote 4 to 68, the National Assembly today voted against opposition lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan’s initiative on presidential impeachment. Before the vote, Head of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) faction Levon Zurabyan said while they find the bill to be important they believe that their support to the bill would be ‘a great gift to Serzh Sargsyan.’ “Do not make the National Assembly into a stage,” said Margarit Yesayan, a lawmaker representing the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) faction. Nikol Pashinyan said he had nothing to add as everything had been said at the NA Standing Committee of State and Legal Issues. Lawmaker Alexander Arzumanyan said regardless of legal arguments and formulations ‘the bill was a good opportunity to unseat Serzh Sargsyan.’ He added that he was going to vote for the initiative. Lawmaker Khachatur Kokobelyan said the bill had entangled the opposition field and advised Pashinyan to discuss the bill with his opposition colleagues first in order not to make it ‘a subject of speculations.’ Pashinyan said the bill had been put in circulation for several months but he had received no proposal during those months. “I said I was ready to accept all proposal and observations without paying attention to their content. Moreover, if someone else submitted a bill to unseat Serzh Sargsyan I would sign it without hesitation,” he said.
