The “Hraparak” newspaper has reported that the “Civil Contract” coalition recently held a four-hour closed-door discussion. The main topic of discussion was supposed to be the issues concerning national interests and the territories occupied by Azerbaijan and transferred from Tavush. However, the only position that was extensively discussed was who should nominate the Head of the Standing Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs of the National Assembly, following the resignation of Grigor Papoyan, the former Minister of Finance.

The position of the Head of the Standing Committee is considered attractive to many because it comes with perks such as a state-owned car, a driver, and an additional monthly salary of around 200,000 drams. This seems more appealing to some than the hundreds of kilometers of territories that Prime Minister Pashinyan wants to hand over to Azerbaijan.

During the discussion, four candidates were proposed for the position. Babken Tunyan, who was recommended by Vahagn Aleksanyan, Covinar Vardanyan, and Arusyak Manavyan, while Hovik Aghazaryan recommended himself. Tunyan openly declared his candidacy, while the others expressed their intentions, presented their vision, and answered questions about their financial management work.

Ultimately, Tsov-i Men (former Deputy Minister of Finance) received the majority vote with 28 votes. A. Manavyan received 21 votes, and Aghazaryan received 5 votes. During the closed discussion, the supporters of Arusyak Manavyan made the most noise. Their enthusiastic voices exceeded the number of votes Manavyan received in the National Assembly. Although their voices were not heard by the assembly, it was understood that their presence and personal finances would be managed under Pashinyan’s leadership, and their role in the FPS (Financial and Budgetary Affairs) would increase.

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