On March 18 the National Assembly continued the work of the four-day sittings.

Before turning to the voting the President of the National Assembly Mr. Tigran Torosyan presented the draft decision to the deputies, which proposed to convene a special sitting in the building of Alexander Spendiaryan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre on the occasion of the inauguration ceremony of the newly elected president, Mr. Serzh Sargsyan on April 9 at 2 p.m. The draft law was passed by voting.

Then voting took place, as a result of which all the bills and international agreements, debated the previous day, were passed.

Then the parliament touched upon the last speeches related to the government submitted draft law on Safety of the Persons subject to Special State Protection, being debated from the previous day.

Mr. Stepan Safaryan, secretary of the Heritage faction, presented the view of the faction, noting that some provisions of the bill can have different interpretations. According to the MP, the proposed amendments do not amend the bill but cause numerous risks. It was noted that the faction would present written proposals related to the bill.

The main reporter Mr. Gevorg Danielyan in his final speech said that all the constructive proposals had already been passed, they would be included in the draft to be presented in the second reading.

Mr. Gevorg Danielyan, Minister of Justice presented in the first reading the draft law on Making Addendum to the RA Law on Arms, the adoption of which is conditioned by the elimination of the existing discrepancies between the laws on Arms and on Criminal Executive Service.

Mr. Artur Aghabekyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense, National Security and Internal Affairs of the National Assembly presented the endorsement of the committee.

Mr. Armen Alaverdyan, Deputy Head of the State Tax Service, Adjunct to the Government presented for the first reading the draft law on Making Addendum to the RA Law on Excise Tax.

Mr. Vardan Bostanjyan, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Assembly, presented the endorsement related to the bill.

Mr. Davit Lokyan, Minister of Agriculture, submitted for the first reading the draft law on Making Addendum to the RA Law on Trade and Services.The Standing Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Assembly also endorsed the bill: it was presented by Mr. Vardan Bostanjyan, Chairman of the committee.

Mr. Davit Lokyan, Minister of Agriculture, also presented in the first reading the bill submitted by the government on Alcoholic Drinks from Grapes. Mr. Vardan Bostanjyan presented the endorsement of the head committee related to the bill.

Mr. Garegin Azaryan, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Armenia, submitted the information of the Central Electoral Committee on the Organization and Conduct of the elections of the President of the Republic of Armenia on February 19, 2008 to the deputies.

The commission, within the limits of its authorities accepted all the legal acts necessary for the regulation of electoral processes, which by the defined order of the RA Law on Legal Acts were published and entered into force.

The electoral commissions were established only with the persons who passed corresponding training and received right to be included in the electoral commissions. After the creation of the local electoral commissions additional trainings were organized for the members of the commissions together with IFES.

The lists of the voters were almost perfect. The statistics of the arguments related to the lists of the voters during the voting and the days, preceding it is the witness of it. All in all, 98 citizens applied to the court, the applications of 49 were satisfied, 250 citizens were included in the additional lists on the Election Day by relevant certificates of the authorized bodies. All in all, 300 citizens or 0,02% of the participants of the voting restored their right of voting, during the Election Day. Mr. Tigran Torosyan, President of the National Assembly, informed the parliament that according to the legislation, no debate was expanded on the information, thus it was proposed to get clarifications from the speaker through questions after hearing the notification. The questions of the deputies were very different: they related to the pre-electoral and post electoral periods, the development issues of the Electoral Code, assessments of the observation missions, the competences of holding exit-polls, etc.

At the end of the day the parliament debated two agreements: Mr. Aghvan Vardanyan, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia presented the Convention of Council of Europe on Combating Exploitation of People (trafficking), which was signed on May 16, 2005 in Warsaw. He said that by joining the convention Armenia undertook certain financial obligations, and there was no contradiction between the convention and Armenian legislation.

Mr. Shirak Torosyan, member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly, presented the endorsement of the committee.

Mr. Levon Mkrtchyan, Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, presented the Agreement on Cooperation in the Sphere of Improving Specialty Training and Qualification of the Specialists of the CIS Member States. It was noted that the agreement did not contradict the legislation of Armenia and was an important step in the sphere of education. The agreement was signed on May 25, 2007 in Yalta. Mr. Stepan Safaryan, member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly, presented the endorsement on the agreement of the committee.

The last hour of the sitting, according to the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, was allotted to the MPs' statements.