Armenia alliance deputy Ishkhan Saghatyan did not get elected to the Vice Speaker position a second time. There were 5 void ballots. The head of the I Have Honor alliance, Artur Vanetsyan, assured reporters that the entire faction of 7 people voted in favor of Ishkhan Saghatelyan’s candidacy. The Civil Contract faction leader Hayk Konjoryan had announced that it seems there is some disagreement among the opposition regarding Ishkhan Saghatelyan’s candidacy. Vanetsyan said, “We will vote for him a third time, a fourth time, and a fifteenth time.” Ishkhan Saghatelyan said that they simply turned the National Assembly into a theater. “It would have been more dignified to vote against me than to create void ballots.”
We asked if it is possible for them to take pictures of the ballots when voting the third time for there to be proof. Saghatelyan said, “We do not doubt ourselves to take pictures.” Artur Vanetsyan added, “I trust that there is no one in the I Have Honor faction who voted against him or created a void ballot. I also hope that no one in the Armenia faction did so either. I am even convinced of this. The responsibility of voting for a third Vice Speaker belongs to the ruling party. It is the ruling party’s burden. If the authorities want us to form a National Assembly and begin working, then they must maintain the election of an opposition candidate. The I Have Honor and Armenia alliances voted for Ishkhan Saghatelyan both times in their entirety.”
Hripsime Jebejyan
