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PARLIAMENT MAJORITY "RESTORES" POLITICAL BALANCE IN ETHICS COMMITTEE AMID OPPOSITION OUTCRY
Politics | 19.12.12 | 11:16
Photo: www.parliament.am
Armenian lawmakers on Tuesday passed, in the first reading, amendments
to the Law on the National Assembly Regulations implying a change of
the balance of forces in the Ethics Committee, a newly established
panel looking into unethical behavior of lawmakers.
Despite opposition from all four minority factions, the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and its junior coalition partner,
Orinats Yerkir, managed to ensure the passage of the legislation with
65 votes to 28, with one abstention.
The RPA and Orinats Yerkir hold 75 seats in the 131-member body,
putting them in a position to determine the outcome of virtually any
vote in the chamber.
Under the approved amendments to the law, the government and opposition
camps will each have three representatives in the Ethics Committee,
with the seventh seat in the panel to be held by a representative of
the "alternative" Prosperous Armenia Party.
The opposition deems that such a change will make the Committee's
work inefficient and does not rule out a boycott of its work.
The decisions by the Ethics Committee are nonbinding. During the
six months since its establishment the Ethics Committee has already
made one decision concerning a pro-government member, calling his
behavior unethical.
http://armenianow.com/news/politics/42118/armenia_parliament_ethics_committee
Politics | 19.12.12 | 11:16
Photo: www.parliament.am
Armenian lawmakers on Tuesday passed, in the first reading, amendments
to the Law on the National Assembly Regulations implying a change of
the balance of forces in the Ethics Committee, a newly established
panel looking into unethical behavior of lawmakers.
Despite opposition from all four minority factions, the ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and its junior coalition partner,
Orinats Yerkir, managed to ensure the passage of the legislation with
65 votes to 28, with one abstention.
The RPA and Orinats Yerkir hold 75 seats in the 131-member body,
putting them in a position to determine the outcome of virtually any
vote in the chamber.
Under the approved amendments to the law, the government and opposition
camps will each have three representatives in the Ethics Committee,
with the seventh seat in the panel to be held by a representative of
the "alternative" Prosperous Armenia Party.
The opposition deems that such a change will make the Committee's
work inefficient and does not rule out a boycott of its work.
The decisions by the Ethics Committee are nonbinding. During the
six months since its establishment the Ethics Committee has already
made one decision concerning a pro-government member, calling his
behavior unethical.
http://armenianow.com/news/politics/42118/armenia_parliament_ethics_committee