New Parliamentary Speaker Elected

A senior member of the Republican Party of Armenia, Samuel Nikoyan, was elected as one of the two deputy speakers of the National Assembly on May 19. The position was recently vacated by Hrayr Karapetian, a leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), in protest against President Serzh Sarksyan's conciliatory policy towards Turkey (which Armenia currently has no diplomatic ties with). Members of the Republican Party of Armenia and two small coalition parties have also filled the three ministerial posts vacated by the ARF when they left the government. As the Republican Party and its remaining coalition members retain a majority in the 131-seat parliament, we do not expect the ARF's exit from the governing coalition to lead to a shift in government policy.

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