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On April 30 the National Assembly continued the work of the four-day sittings. The parliament in the first reading passed the draft law “On Amending the RA Law on Excise Tax,” which was debated at the NA April 29 sitting. The NA ARF, the ANC, the Rule of Law, the PAP and the Heritage factions did not take part in the voting.

The deputies continued debating the RA draft law interrupted in the previous sitting “On Amending the RA Law on Accumulating Pensions.”

The key speaker on the draft law, the RA Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Artem Asatryan was addressed questions relating to the time of returning the accumulating pension payments collected up to now, the steps taken by the government connected with the item, the number of the citizens not wishing to make compulsory accumulating payments, the size of the collected accumulating pension payments, the issue of protection of the employees’ rights in the state institutions, etc.

The Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Social Affairs Hakob Hakobyan presented the endorsement of the Committee on the draft law “On Amending the RA Law on Accumulating Pensions.”

The deputies delivered speeches on the draft law: the debate will continue at the NA next four-day sittings.

In parallel with the NA sitting the secret ballot of the election of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs was held. The Chairman of the NA Ad-hoc Accounting Committee Sukias Avetisyan informed the attendees that the sitting of the Committee was held: 86 deputies took part in the voting. 80 deputies voted for Hovhannes Sahakyan’s candidacy, 5 deputies voted against him, 1 ballot was recognized invalid. Hence, the Secretary of the RPA faction Hovhannes Sahakyan was elected Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs. The newly-elected Chairman thanked the RPA faction for the trust and nominating his candidacy, the RPA and PAP factions for taking part in voting.

In accordance with the NA Rules of Procedure, the last sitting of the day was allotted to the NA-Government Q & A session.

Before beginning the Q & A session the NA Speaker Galust Sahakyan noted: “Dear Mr Prime Minister, dear members of the government, in the name of me and the deputies I congratulate the newly-elected government and I wish you fruitful work.”

“Mr Abrahamyan, the expectations of personally me and many-many people from the newly formed government and the functioning government led by you are big. I am convinced that the success of our common work – the efficiency of the steps directed to the development of our country, will be greatly conditioned by the active cooperation of the legislative and executive bodies and the consistent work for finding joint solutions,” the NA Speaker said.