The 12 Armenia National Assembly Standing Committees.

Vaհe H Apelian 

 

 

I would not have expected that Civil Contract party will head the Eurasian Integration standing committee and the Strong Armenia will head the European Integrationstanding committee of the Armenian National Assembly. For me, the chairing of these standing committees is unexpected turn of events, given the election rhetorics.  

On August 10, the National Assembly distributed the positions of chairmen and deputies of 12 standing committees among the three factions that make the National Assembly, that is to say among Civil Contract party that commands 64 seats, Strong Armenia party that commands 29 seats, and the Armenia alliance, that commands 12 seats. These 12 standing committees, much like any parliamentary standing committees, will review draft laws before they reach the main floor, present expert opinions to parliament, and lead legislative oversight over government policies.

The “Civil Contract” faction received 8 committee chairs and 7 deputies. “Strong Armenia” received 3 chairs and 4 deputies. The “Armenia” faction received 1 chair and 1 deputy.

It is interesting to note that the standing committee for European Integration is chaired by Strong Armenia party, that is a staunch ally of Russia and is for “integration” with the Russian Federation and have it as Armenia’s guarantor – yerashkhavor. But on the other hand, Strong Armenia’s de facto leader in absentia is Samvel Karapetyan who boasted at one time that he is the only leader that holds a European citizenship. Along being a Russian Federation national, Samvel Karabetyan is also a citizen of Cyprus which is a member of European Union and Euro is its official currency. The Civil Contract party, that chairs the Regional and Eurasian Integration standing committee, advocates an independent course for Armenia and continues Armenia’s EAEU – Eurasian Economic Union - membership.

The grand loser surely is Robert Kocharian and the Armenia Alliance he heads. Samvel Karapetyan who was a big absent in the turmoil since 2018 upheaval due to Velvet Revolution led by Nikol Pashinyan has emerged de facto leader of the opposition in Armenia although he legally cannot take part of it.  It appears Moscow has hedged its bet on Samvel Karapetyan and not Robert Kocharyan.

The grand rule of politics is every politics is local. Armenia is no exception. Diaspora is not local. It is futile for Diaspora to align itself politically with Armenian factions. Diaspora’s stand with Armenia should be principled. During the past 70 years or so of Soviet rule, a faction of Diaspora stood against Soviet Armenia governance on principle. And in the post-Soviet era, Diaspora should stand by Armenia on principle as its fledgling democratic homeland, albeit in turmoil to chart its course, not Diaspora’s course.

Attached is a tabulation of the 12 standing committees with their chairs and co-chairs.

Standing Committee		Chaired by	Co-chaired
1	Foreign Relations	Civil Contract	Civil Contract
2	Education, Science, Culture, Sports and Diaspora Issues	Civil Contract	Civil Contract
3	Healthcare	Civil Contract	Civil Contract
4	Labor and Welfare	Civil Contract	Civil Contract
5	Regional and Eurasian Integration	Civil Contract	Strong Armenia
6	Defense and Security Issues	Civil Contract	Strong Armenia
7	Economic Issues	Civil Contract	Strong Armenia
8	State and Legal Issues	Civil Contract	Armenia
9	Financial, Credit and Budgetary Issues	Strong Armenia	Civil Contract
10	Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government,	Strong Armenia	Civil Contract
11	European Integration	Strong Armenia	Civil Contract
12	Human Rights Protection and Public Affairs	Armenia	Strong Armenia