Two MPs respond in writing to PM no-confidence letters

PanARMENIAN.Net - Only two MPs from the ruling Civil Contract faction have responded in writing to letters concerning the initiative to express no confidence in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, according to Edgar Ghazaryan, the initiative's author.

These MPs are Taguhi Ghazaryan and Vahagn Aleksanyan, reports Pastinfo.

"Both essentially state that they do not intend to initiate a no-confidence process. Taguhi Ghazaryan offers a more restrained assessment, attempting to justify why there are no grounds for expressing no confidence in the government and the prime minister. Vahagn Aleksanyan responds in a more sarcastic tone, referencing Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan, even though neither is connected to this process. His response was quite nonsensical," said Ghazaryan.

He noted that the "Armenia" faction has issued a statement, while the "I Have Honor" faction has yet to respond.

According to Ghazaryan, they have monitored MPs' interviews across various media outlets and cannot predict whether any MP will take the initiative to start the process.

"We are following the interviews given by faction MPs to different media outlets. Whether they will undertake the mission to initiate the process, I do not know. Our expectations are not from the factions but from all 107 MPs individually," Ghazaryan stated.

When asked whether the process is doomed to fail without the support of at least 20 MPs from Civil Contract, Ghazaryan dismissed this as an unfounded opinion.

"Anyone expressing that view hasn't read the National Assembly's constitutional law on regulations, is unaware of how no-confidence is manifested, and what developments may occur, yet immediately speaks of failure. This means they haven't read the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia to understand when a no-confidence process begins, what its grounds can be, and what role Civil Contract or any other faction's MPs play. In other words, they lack political understanding of the issue.

Regarding the claim that if the no-confidence process fails, it can only be revisited after six months, this applies only when the project has already been put to a vote. A vote occurs only when the initiative's authors—at least 36 MPs—submit the project to the National Assembly's president. Even if there are 50 signatures on paper, but the authors do not submit the project to the NA president, no vote is organized.

If the initiative's author knows that 54 votes are needed for their initiative, but only has 50 signatures on paper, it would be unwise to submit it. This should be done when, for example, there are 60 signatures. To obtain those 60 signatures, there must first be one MP, then a second, then 20 more, then 10 others, and so on. But for this process to start, someone must initiate it," Ghazaryan explained.

When asked why he believes an MP from Civil Contract might join the initiative, even though opposition-proposed projects are often rejected, Ghazaryan cited several instances where Civil Contract members supported opposition proposals.

"Seyran Ohanyan met with Hayk Konjoryan, and negotiated for Civil Contract members to provide the necessary number of votes. So why wouldn't Seyran Ohanyan go now, meet with Hayk Konjoryan, talk, and explain our country's constitutional order?" he said.

When asked why he expects such a step only from the Armenia faction, given that they have already declared their support, Ghazaryan replied that the initiative's recipients were addressed personally, not factionally.

"Whether Seyran Ohanyan or other MPs take action is not important. What matters is that someone does. When we wrote the letters, we did not mention the faction name, position, or gender. We did not write 'Dear Ms. So-and-so,' we simply wrote 'MP.' It doesn't matter who does it; what matters is that someone does," concluded Edgar Ghazaryan.

The Armenia faction has unanimously reaffirmed its readiness to provide the signatures of its 28 MPs to initiate the process of expressing no confidence in the prime minister, provided that the initiators can secure the additional 8 signatures needed, and publicly declare their ability and responsibility to mobilize the public support necessary for a successful impeachment. This is stated in the faction's released statement.