Last settle of the constitutional struggle

Yesterday the parliament discussed the announcement bill of the pension reform component, which was initiated by Prosperous Armenia party that declared itself an opposition party.

46 voted for and 53 against this bill. The results of the voting showed that many RPA Mps just didn’t show up not to vote against the bill and an RPA MP recently elected from Syunik Armen Karapetyan voted for this bill. The authors of the statement offered to apply to the government and Central Bank, discuss this matter with relevant commissions of the NA and start the reforming process in 2015. They also offered to hold a referendum to understand the moods of the people in regard to this matter.

When the MPs were discussing the statement around 1500-2000 people gathered on Baghramyan street to protest against the law. As the authors of the statement claimed that in the event if the statement is not voted for by the parliament majority they’d head to the Constitutional Court, they decided to protest in front of Ombudsman Karen Andreasyan’s office, demanding that he also joined the process and the parliamentary opposition. he protesters want the authorities to scrap or delay the entry into force of a bill that requires working citizens born after 1973 to transfer at least 5 percent of their income to private pension funds in addition to social security taxes paid by their employers. The measure, which is due to take effect on January 1, is part of Armenia’s ongoing transition to a new pension system whereby the amount of retirement benefit will depend in the future on workers’ lifelong financial contributions. The government says the existing pay-as-you-go system is not sustainable. Officials made clear earlier this week that it will not bow to pressure from the affected citizens and the opposition. The three opposition parties represented in the National Assembly as well as the opposition-leaning Prosperous Armenia Party tried to force an emergency parliament debate on the reform late last week.

The parliament majority controlled by the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) thwarted the planned session by boycotting it. Parliament minority leaders said on Thursday that they will continue challenging the reform and are now discussing various options. Those include another attempt to have the parliament discuss the matter, an appeal to the Constitutional Court and even a demand for a national referendum. In front of the Ombudsman’s office the protesters negotiated with the representatives of the Ombudsman, who promised to jointly work with the MPs and didn’t rule out the chance of joining them. According to the latter the suit can be submitted to the Constitutional Court at the end of December but the protesters would claim to do it immediately.

The protesters believe that before the law would go into force only 27 days is left. They demanded that the Ombudsman’s staff clearly said whether they were joining the movement or not. The latter said that the Ombudsman might join the movement. Afterwards, the protesters moved to the government. In front of the government building the same thing happened as usual. They’d chant, “Shame, we are against, we won’t migrate, etc.” They’d assure that they don’t have any expectation from the government. They just wanted to make sure that the government knows that they won’t ever cope with the law.

They mentioned that they’d implement other actions when the CC determines that the law is constitutional and can go into force. They claimed if the legal forms of struggle run out they would apply political methods of struggle. It is impossible not to notice that in Armenia within a few days several snowballs are formed. Various civil movements are organizing all kinds of actions on different or even same days. They announce that their struggle will last as long as the government realizes and accommodates their requests. The members of the “We are against” civil group are fighting against the cumulative pension system. The members of the “Dignified fatherland” party have now started to demand the impeachment of the government and they are protesting against Armenia’s possible membership to the Customs Union. Former military servants are now demanding the impeachment of the government too. It is possible that these parallel formed snowballs at some point might merge especially in light of the fact that one of the key slogans of the protesters from yesterday was the “Unity.”

By Avetis Babajanyan