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The NA draft decision on the termination of the powers of the deputy Vahe Hakobyan as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, authored by the Civil Contract Faction of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, was discussed at the extraordinary sitting of the National Assembly convened on July 1.

The key rapporteur Tsovinar Vardanyan noted that according to Article 138 of the Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, the right to nominate candidates from the composition of MPs for the positions of the chairs of standing committees and their deputies is distributed among the factions on the opening day of the first session of the National Assembly in accordance with the coefficient obtained for each position, which is calculated by the corresponding formula.

According to Tsovinar Vardanyan, in the field of regulation of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs are such important areas of activity as: taxes, duties, fees, industry, urban development, energy, natural resources, transport, communications, telecommunications, internet, other branches of production infrastructure, tourism, trade and services, business activities, state property management, tariffs, investments, economic competition, anti-monopoly and law regulating these areas.

“Vahe Hakobyan did not participate in 194 out of 342 votes of the first calendar half of the eighth convocation of the National Assembly. During the eighth convocation of the National Assembly, he was absent 20 times from the 25 sittings of the Council convened. The National Assembly adopted 253 laws during the eighth convocation, of which the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs was the head of 83 laws. The NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs organized 27 regular and extraordinary sittings during the eighth convocation of the RA National Assembly. The Committee Chair did not participate in the preparation and organization of the sittings. He did not preside over 11 sittings, and then the agendas and protocols of the above-mentioned number of sittings submitted to the Secretariat were not signed by the Chair. He also did not sign the protocols of the agendas submitted to the Secretariat, draft laws that received a positive conclusion in the committee, and a number of other documents,” the key rapporteur said.

The deputy emphasized that taking into account the fact that the Republic of Armenia is a parliamentary state, the standing committees are the most important bodies of the National Assembly, and according to Article 10.1 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, they are created for draft laws and the preliminary debate of other issues within the jurisdiction of the National Assembly, for presenting conclusions on them to the National Assembly, as well as for parliamentary oversight. Therefore, the election of the chairs of the standing committees has been given importance to the extent that it is not left to the discretion of the factions, and the candidate for the chair of the standing committee can be elected the chair of the committee only by the majority of the votes of the deputies.

According to Article 138.2 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, the right to nominate candidates for the chairs of standing committees is preserved until the end of the powers of the National Assembly. Therefore, taking into account the above-mentioned, with the adoption of the decision of the National Assembly on the termination of the powers of the deputy of the National Assembly Vahe Hakobyan as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs, the Civil Contract Faction aims to elect a chair of the committee in the future, who will properly fulfil his/her duties, ensuring the normal functioning of the committee, he/she will simultaneously participate in the sittings of the NA Council, where, in accordance with Article 27.1 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, standing committees, chairs are included,” Tsovinar Vardanyan concluded.

The NA Vice President Hakob Arshakyan informed that according to Article 150.4 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, the Chair of the Standing Committee can give a speech and answer the questions, as well as make a final speech after the main report. “Vahe Hakobyan, the Chair of the Standing Committee, had the opportunity to give such a speech, but he was absent from the hall,” the NA Vice President noted.

Hakob Arshakyan informed that according to Article 150.4 of the Constitutional Law the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, the NA decision on the termination of the powers of the Chair of the Standing Committee is adopted by secret ballot, by the majority of votes of the deputies participating in the voting, if more than half of the total number of deputies participated in the voting.