Tigran Torosyan elected as Armenian parliamentary speaker

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Republican Tigran Torosyan has been elected as the speaker of the Armenian parliament today. The election was uncontested. From 114 MPs, who participated in the secret ballot, 112 voted for approving Torosyan as speaker, 2 were against it, a REGNUM correspondent informs.

As Tigran Torosyan announced that the parliamentary elections in Armenia met democratic standards. At the same time, he expressed confidence that next elections “will be better.” “For the 15 years since Armenian independence foundation was laid and all attributes of the statehood established. Macroeconomic indices that we reached for the last six-seven years, allow us being proud of the country.” He reminded that the previous parliament made an important step by elaborating amendments to the constitution. “The amendments will more and more influence development of civil society,” Torosyan noted.

Speaking on priority tasks of the parliament, he noted that in order to augment the economic successes, it is necessary, first of all, stir social and political reforms. “The Nagorno Karabakh conflict is still a priority problem today. In this connection, activity of the MPs is very important. Armenia has parliamentary missions in various international institutions, but it is needed for their effective work that the parliament also carries out great work on the issue,” Torosyan said.

It is worth mentioning, opposition parties Orinats Yerkir and The Heritage refused to take part in the first session of the new parliament today, during which the voting on Torosyan’s candidature was held. Both parties together have 15 seats in the 131-seat parliament.

Tirgan Torosyan was elected as parliamentary speaker and thus preserved the post since June 2006. In 2006, the position became vacant after Artur Bagdassaryan resigned and the Orinats Yerkir party led by him announced it was leaving the ruling coalition and switched to the opposition camp.