Law passed in tense atmosphere
Tragic events took place in Yerevan four years ago this day, and today, deputies of the National Assembly paid tribute to the 10 innocent people who fell victims to the events of 1 March 2008 with a moment of silence.
During the vote for the law "On the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency", leader of the faction of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) Galust Sahakyan made a proposal to interrupt the session for 20 minutes. Later, he told journalists that there was a problem with the coalition's agreement and that it had been solved.
After the break, the deputies placed the draft law up for a vote and passed it with 67 "for" and 1 "against".
"Heritage" and the ARF-D didn't vote. The deputies of the "Heritage" Party demanded seeing the results of the vote on the board again, but were denied.
Most of the deputies left the hall after the vote. However, when the parliament was discussing the amendments foreseen in the laws "On Land Tax" and "Property Tax", Stepan Safaryan gave a speech in which he touched upon the vote for the law "On the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency" and declared that "the law was passed by a falsified vote".
He and NA Vice-Chairman Eduard Sharmazanov got into a dispute and Sharmazanov called on speaking about the draft law in discussion.
