Armenian parliament rejects energy bill at authors' proposal
The Armenian National Assembly started its sitting on Wednesday with lawmakers congratulating their colleague Soghomon Soghomonyan on his birthday. Afterwards, the parliament almost unanimously adopted the 12 draft laws and agreements debated during the previous sitting on Tuesday.
The bill on making amendments to the “Law on Energy” authored by MPs Babken Tunyan and Artak Manukyan was the only one rejected by the National Assembly at the proposal of its authors.
Introducing the bill at the previous sitting, Artak Manukyan stated that there was a need to amend the transitional provisions of the draft law, which could not be done during the second reading.
Following the MP’s appeal, the parliament rejected the bill with 88 votes against. This was followed by Manukyan's second proposal to return the draft law to the first reading under Article 83.3 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly.
Prosperous Armenia lawmaker Sergey Bagratyan said they have reservations about the measure and will vote in favor of it if their proposals are taken into account.
The parliament speaker put to a vote the proposal to send the energy bill back to the first reading, which was adopted by 99 votes in favor.