The September 14 meeting of the Civil Contract party board did not include the issue of expelling former MP Hayk Sargsyan from the party. National Assembly Deputy Speaker Vahagn Aleksanyan said this during a briefing with journalists, Armenpress reports.
Journalists asked whether reports that Civil Contract was preparing to discuss Hayk Sargsyan’s expulsion from the party were accurate and whether the matter had been included on the party board meeting’s agenda.
“There is no such issue on today’s agenda. What you are referring to is a disciplinary matter, and from an institutional standpoint, among our party bodies it would be more appropriate to address the question not to the board but to the Oversight Commission,” Aleksanyan said.
Responding to a journalist’s observation that Hayk Sargsyan had already received a severe reprimand and asking whether the next disciplinary sanction could entail expulsion from the party, Aleksanyan said that under objective circumstances, this should indeed be the case.
“Yes, in the event of another reprimand, most likely, presumably, under objective circumstances, that should indeed be the case,” he said.
Discussions within Civil Contract surrounding Hayk Sargsyan intensified again following a recent interview in which the former MP criticized and made claims about his former teammates and addressed the reasons behind the deterioration of his relations within the party.
On September 11, Prime Minister and Civil Contract board chair Nikol Pashinyan told reporters that intra-party relations with Sargsyan had become strained not because of his criticism but as a result of several incidents linked to him. Pashinyan also said criminal proceedings had been initiated in connection with Sargsyan’s recent statements, stressing that as a result of those statements, “someone must end up in prison” if a crime was committed.
