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On October 26, by the decision of the RA NA Speaker Galust Sahakyan, under Article 70 of the RA Constitution and at the initiative of the RA Government an extraordinary sitting of the RA National Assembly was convened by the initiator’s established agenda.

At the beginning of the sitting the NA Speaker Galust Sahakyan informed that according to Paragraph 2 of Article 13 of the NA Rules of Procedure the deputy Tigran Urikhanyan had taken back his resignation application in written form.

The parliament passed the decision on the special procedure of holding of the extraordinary sitting, according to which, the first day of the extraordinary sitting convening on October 17, 2016 three sittings will be convened with one and a half hour duration: the duration of the first interval is one hour, the second interval – half an hour. Beginning from the second day every day four sittings with one and a half hour duration will be convened; the sittings will begin at 11:00. The duration of every interval is half an hour.

A decision was also made - the debate of a number of bills in the second reading will be held during 24 hours after the first reading. The debate of the legislative package on Financial Leveling and on Amending the RA Law on RA Budgetary System will also be held in special procedure.

The parliament by voting passed the draft law on Amending the RA Law on Advocacy debated in the second reading at the NA Four-day sittings, after which considered in the first reading the draft law on Amending the Code on Subsoil of the Republic of Armenia, which submitted the RA Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Vardan Gevorgyan.

The NA deputies Khosrov Harutyunyan, Vardan Ayvazyan, Mikael Melkumyan and Tevan Poghosyan presented their views, concerns and disputable provisions on the draft law.

In his final speech Vardan Gevorgyan touched upon the sounded concerns and expressed readiness to revise the draft law until the second reading, taking into consideration the raised problems of strategic importance.

The deputies debated in the second reading the legislative package on Amending the RA Code on Subsoil, on Amending the RA Law on Nature Protection and Nature Utilization Payments and on Amending the RA Law on Wastes, and Vardan Gevorgyan informed that the package was revised and a number of amendments were made. The parliament in the first reading debated the package on Amending the RA Electoral Code and the enclosed draft laws, which presented the RA Minister-Chief of Staff of the Government Davit Harutyunyan.

In the Q & A session the NA deputies were interested in the definition of the responsibility designed in case of making fake announcement on voting instead of other persons, making video of the election procedure, touched upon the steps taken to make the elections more transparent.

Davit Harutyunyan expressed readiness to work jointly with the deputies.

The Chair of the RA NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs Hovhannes Sahakyan presented the endorsement of the Head Committee. He has noted that the legislative initiative reflects the agreement on which the NA five factions agreed. Mr Sahakyan touched upon the publication of the lists, and the installation of video cameras. He positively assessed the amendments and highlighted the formation of the atmosphere of trust in the electoral process.

The NA Deputy Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov delivered an extraordinary speech and recorded that during the recent years the political forces, the power and the opposition, for the first time could come to a conclusion and the amended Electoral Code was the result of the mutual work. Mr Sharmazanov thanked his colleagues, who through many months worked to have the upcoming elections more qualified, democratic and reliable. To his assessment, this is an unprecedented progress connected with the Electoral Code and the electoral processes.

The debate of the issue will continue on October 18.