The regulations for the election of the members of the Executive Committee of the Football Federation of Armenia are defined by clause 30 of the FFA Statute.

Iravaban.net studied the composition of the members of the FFA Executive Committee, the organized elections and found out that violations of several articles of the Statute were recorded.

Moreover, the current composition of the Executive Committee of the Football Federation of Armenia does not function legally, as their term of office has expired.

Since 2019, Clause 37 of the Statute defines the regulations regarding the composition of the Executive Committee and the term of office. According to this clause, the Executive Committee has 17 members, including the President, Vice President, and 15 members, and at least two of them must be female.

Part 3 of this clause stipulates that the President, Vice-President and members of the Executive Committee hold office for a period of four years. Their powers arise immediately after the end of the meeting that examined the issue of their election.

Thus, on 22 September, 2018, the Football Federation of Armenia published a material entitled “Artur Vanetsyan was elected as the President of the FFA” , according to which the founding meeting of the FFA was held at the FFA Technical Center-Academy. The delegates of the meeting approved the FFA NGO Statute. Artur Vanetsyan was elected to the post of FFA President by open vote.

The FFA Executive Committee was also approved with the following composition:

1. Armen Nikoghosyan,
2. Armen Melikbekyan,
3. Tovmas Grigoryan,
4. Karen Shaboyan,
5. Arsen Torosyan,
6. Zhanna Andreasyan,
7. Suren Papikyan,
8. Khachatur Adumyan,
9. Aren Mkrtchyan,
10. Artur Ohanyan,
11. Ruben Rubinyan,
12. Suren Abrahamyan,
13. Alen Simonyan,
14. Hirach Yagan,
15. Marina Tashchyan,
16. Hakob Simidyan.

On 21 November, 2019, Artur Vanetsyan submitted his resignation from the position of FFA President.

According to parts 5, 6 and 7 of Clause 37 of the FFA Statute, respectively, if any position or positions of the Executive Committee become vacant of up to 50%, the Executive Committee shall fill that position(s) until the next Meeting, where substitutes are elected for the remaining term of office.

The position is automatically considered vacant upon the death, resignation of the incumbent, or in the event that a member of the Executive Committee does not attend three consecutive regular meetings or if he does not attend Executive Committee meetings for five consecutive months.

If more than 50% of the positions of the Executive Committee become vacant, the Committee on Emergency Issues (under the current Statute to the General Secretariat) convenes an Extraordinary Meeting to elect replacements for the remaining term of the positions.

On 23 December, 2019, it was announced onthe official website of FFA that the 19th Extraordinary Meeting of FFA was held. According to the publication, in the second part of the meeting, the President of FFA, Armen Melikbekyan, the vice-president of FFA, Armen Nikoghosyan, and the members of the FFA Executive Committee were elected with the following composition:

1. Hasmik Gharibyan,
2. Hrachik Aghabekyan,
3. Gagik Aghbalyan,
4. Kim Arakelyan,
5. Poghos Galstyan,
6. Anna Tadevosyan,
7. Tigran Hakobyan,
8. Hayk Ghazazyan,
9. Aren Mkrtchyan,
10. Hirach Yagan,
11. Bagrat Navoyan,
12. Artur Sahakyan,
13. Armen Nikoghosyan,
14. Karen Shaboyan,
15. Armen Shahgeldyan,
16. Albert Sargsyan.

When comparing with the previous composition of the Executive Committee, it becomes clear that more than 50% of the members have changed, Armen Melikbekyan, Armen Nikoghosyan, Karen Shaboyan, Aren Mkrtchyan, Hirach Yagan remained in the Executive Committee.

It follows from all this that the term of office of the members of the Executive Committee has expired on 22 September, 2022, because according to the  Part 7 of Clause 37 of the Statute, members are elected at the Extraordinary meeting to replace the remaining term in the given positions. It follows from this that the decisions made by the Executive Committee after 22 September, 2022 cannot be considered legitimate.

Moreover, the resignations of the above-mentioned members of the Executive Committee were submitted.

13:08:20 – Tigran Hakobyan ,

15:08:20 – Armen Shahgeldyan ,

15:10:22 – Anna Tadevosyan .

Hayk Ghazazyan’s name is not mentioned in the Executive Committee either.

Pursuant to the Statute, if any position or up to 50% of positions in the Executive Committee become vacant, the Executive Committee shall fill that position(s) until the next General Assembly, where replacements are elected for the remainder of the term. Only Mkhitar Hayrapetyan was elected as a substitute member of the Executive Committee.

The remaining 3 vacancies were not filled, but they had to be filled before the next meeting. 

We can also consider this as a violation of the Statute.

According to the new Statute of the FFA, the Executive Committee will not have 17, as it was before, but 13 members, including the President, Vice-President, 11 members, and at least three of them must be female.

A few days ago, on 16 December, the FFA announced that on 28 December, at 13:00, the 23rd regular meeting of the FFA will be held at the FFA office, where one of the items on the agenda is the election of members of the FFA Executive Committee.

—————

Let’s note that Iravaban.net has addressed the FFA President with an official request regarding the issue, but has not received any reply so far.

According to Article 9 of the RA Law “On Freedom of Information”, the answer to written inquiry for information from citizens is given within 5 days after receiving it, except for information that requires additional work (30-day period is provided, about which a written notice is being provided within 5 days after the application submission, highlighting the reasons for delay and the final deadline when the information will be provided). The 5-day deadline for responding to the inquiry has passed, and we have not received any notification regarding answering the inquiry within the 30-day period.

We also tried to contact the FFA staff, but the calls to the phone number published on the official website were also unanswered.

Let’s add that in case of FFA comment on the topic, Iravaban.net is ready to publish it.