FORMER ORINATS YERKIR DEPUTIES ESTABLISH NEW

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000714 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CARC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL AM SUBJECT: FORMER ORINATS YERKIR DEPUTIES ESTABLISH NEW PRO-GOVERNMENTAL PARLIAMENTARY GROUP REF: YEREVAN 647 Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) On May 25, ten (of eleven) National Assembly members who left outgoing Speaker Artur Baghdasarian's Orinats Yerkir (OY) Party Faction, created a new deputy group called Gortsarar (Entrepreneur). The members of Gortsarar elected Grigor Margaryan, the owner of "Bellagio" restaurants network, to be their leader. The group, which abandoned the OY as a result of alleged pressure from the Presidential administration, is likely to remain loyal to the Government. ¶2. (SBU) Six members of this group were elected into the National Assembly through the Orinats Yerkir party list; they did not, however, give up their mandates after leaving the party. (Note: Parliamentary bylaws contain no mechanism to force someone who leaves a party (and was elected via the party list) to give up his seat, but leave it to the member of parliament's individual conscience to comply with the intent of the rules. End Note.) Due to this gap in the rules, the OY faction (now down to nine members) will no longer control all twelve seats it won from the party list in ¶2003. EVANS