YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian has signed the Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of Parliament bill into law after the Constitutional Court ruled it conforms with the constitution.

This bill was adopted in October 2, 2018 by the former parliament dominated by the HHK – the former ruling party. The adoption of the bill caused protests right outside the parliament while it was in session.

The controversial bill is an amendment to the Rules of Procedure law of the parliament, whereby in the event of a parliament session being unable to be held because of lack of quorum, or if lawmakers are anyhow prevented from participating, it will be considered interrupted rather than failed, with a possibility of resuming at a later date. In October of 2018, PM Nikol Pashinyan and his supporters believed this bill is apparently a limitation of possible circumstances of dissolution of parliament, which at that time was the goal of Pashinyan. Amid protests, President Armen Sarkissian refused to sign the bill into law and forwarded it to the Constitutional Court to determine its constitutionality. The HHK (Republicans) bill was widely deemed as a “counter-revolution” attempt.

On April 19, 2019 the Constitutional Court approved the bill. 

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan