The RA Law on the “Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly” provides the cases when the powers of the deputy may be terminated.
Specifically, Article 12 (e) provides that the powers of the deputyare terminated if “s/he is regarded to be absent from more than half of the voting during one regular session without any good reason in the manner prescribed by Article 99 of this Law;”
1. The staff registers the deputies’ participation in the voting.
2. The staff delivers a memo to Deputies on their absences from votes during the previous month or session in the first week of each month. This memo is also sent to the Deputies by e-mail.
3. A Deputy’s absence from voting is considered for a good reason if:
3. A Deputy’s absence from voting is considered for a good reason if:
a) within four days after s/he has recovered his capability s/he submits a certificate on incapability to the chairperson of the standing committee or the chief of staff; (Amended by the LA-113 dated 30.04.2009)
a.1) s/he is sent on business trip by the National Assembly
a.2) s/he has been arrested or remanded in custody for preventive reasons but he was not sentenced to imprisonment or decision to discontinue his/her criminal prosecution was adopted with regard to him/her;
b) within four days before his absence or after the voting, s/he officially notifies of the reason for his/her absence to the Chairperson of the National Assembly and the latter considers it for a good reason;
c) within a 15-day period following the end of the regular session, s/he notifies officially of the reason for his/her absence to the Chairperson of the National Assembly, and the latter considers it for a good reason;
d) s/he makes a statement on refusing to participate in a particular voting in the manner prescribed by Sub-Paragraph ‘g’ Paragraph 2 of Article 56 of this Law;
e) before the voting the leader or secretary of a faction or deputy group declared at the sitting of the National Assembly that all members registered for the sitting of the faction or the group refused to participate in the voting.
3.1. Refusal by a faction or deputy group to participate in the voting in the manner prescribed by Sub-Paragraph ‘e’ of Paragraph 3 of this Articles considered to be made for a good reason only in one session of that particular convocation of the National Assembly
4. The issue of the absence of the Deputies who have been absent from more than half of the voting for no good reason in the previous regular session is included in the agenda of the first four-day sitting of the regular session.
5. The Deputy is notified of the debate in a sitting of the National Assembly on the issue of his/her absences at least 7 days in advance. If the Deputy is absent, the debate on the issue is postponed twice each time for two weeks, after which it is considered at the next 4-day sitting regardless of his/her presence.
6. The draft resolution on the absences of each Deputy is debated separately in the manner prescribed by Article 55 of this Law. During the debate, the Deputy or the Deputy authorized by him/her may speak from the rostrum, answer questions and have a 10-minute concluding speech.
7. The resolution of the National Assembly on considering the absences of a Deputy from more than half of votes in one regular session for no good reasons is adopted by secret ballot by the majority of votes of the Deputies who participated in the session if more than half of the total number of the Deputies have voted.
8. The minutes on the termination of the powers of the Deputy is drawn on the basis of the above resolution, signed by the Chairperson of the National Assembly and sent to the Central Election Commission within a five-day period.
Notice:
(Article 14 amended on 23.10.08 HO-182-N, 19.12.12 HO-249-N)
(Provision of Article 14 (3) “The Deputy may quit a faction by notifying in writing the leader of the relevant faction,” Referring to the deputies who are not indicated as candidates in the ballot list to the extent they contribute to changes of the political balance established in the National Assembly by the free expression of will of the public recognize as contradicting to the requirements of Articles 1, 2 and 7 of the RA Constitution and declare invalid by the SDO-810).
