Armenia: opposition collects enough signatures to address the Constitutional Court

The parliamentary faction of the oppositional "Armenian National Congress" (ANC) has already collected 34 signatures in favour of appeal to the Constitutional Court about the recent boycott by the parliamentary majority of the extraordinary session of the parliament, said Levon Zurabyan, the faction leader.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the extraordinary session of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia that was convoked by the opposition for November 21 did not take place for absence of quorum. Then, about 70 supporters of the opposition held a protest action in front of the building of the parliament.

Zurabyan has explained that the opposition wants to challenge the compliance to the Constitution of several provisions of the Law "On Regulations of the National Assembly", which, in fact, had allowed the majority to disrupt the attempt of the opposition to convoke an extraordinary session of the NA on November 21. According to his version, a number of articles of the law assert that a parliamentary session can take place if 66 MPs have registered, that is, more than a half of the members of the NA.

"We are applying to the Constitutional Court with a request to recognize a number of provisions of the Law "On Regulations of the NA" non-constitutional; and should we succeed, we'll be able to convoke extraordinary sessions," the MP has stated.

Zurabyan has also informed that the appeal to the Constitutional Court was signed, apart from the MPs from the ANC faction, by MPs from the factions "Heritage" and "Prosperous Armenia". Under the law, the right to address the Constitutional Court is granted by 27 MP's signatures, which makes one fifth of the total members of the NC of Armenia.