"Zhoghovurd" daily writes: "The parliamentary sources of "Zhoghovurd" daily reported that the ruling "Civil Agreement" faction has put into circulation the draft decision "On establishing a temporary committee of the National Assembly on issues related to parliamentary ethics".
According to the project, it is planned to create a 10-member Ethics Commission, whose term of operation will be two years. The "Civil Agreement" faction will have the right to appoint five members to the commission, three - "Strong Armenia", and two - the "Armenia" faction.
The "Zhoghovurd" daily learned that the initiative also envisages periodic rotation of the commission's leadership. At the initial stage, the position of the president will be reserved for the "Civil Agreement" faction, and the position of the first deputy president will be reserved for "Strong Armenia". After that, every six months, the right to appoint the posts of president and deputy will be transferred to different factions, ensuring the rotation of political forces in the leadership of the commission.
The project is based on the provisions of Article 107 of the RA Constitution and Article 19.1 of the "Regulations of the National Assembly" constitutional law.
Let's note that the existence of the parliamentary ethics committee also corresponds to the institutional obligations assumed by Armenia within the framework of the democratic reforms implemented with the European Union. In European parliamentary practice, ethics commissions are called to monitor compliance with the code of conduct of MPs, investigate ethical complaints against MPs and, if necessary, initiate legal procedures.
Opinions have been heard in the political field for a long time that the absence of such a commission did not allow to make an institutional assessment of a number of scandalous incidents, when the Speaker of the National Assembly Alen Simonyan ordered the bodyguard to hold the citizen's hands, spat on the citizen, as well as the scandal related to the statement of the government deputy Artur Hovhannisyan to "cut off the tongue, ear". In the event of an investigation, with the existence of grounds provided by the law, it was necessary to apply to the Constitutional Court to deprive the deputy of his mandate. If the project is accepted, after a long break, an institutional mechanism working permanently on parliamentary ethics issues will again operate in the National Assembly of Armenia, which will be called to increase the level of parliamentary political culture and accountability.
But the draft does not show who can apply to that committee, how it should be investigated, what punishments can be imposed on MPs who violate ethics." Details in today's issue of "Zhoghovurd" daily newspaper.
