YEREVAN (Armenpress)–Chairman of Armenia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) Artak Sahradian–at an official ceremony on Wednesday–handed over parliament mandates to the newly elected lawmakers. Among the 131 parliament members–eleven running on the Armenian Revolutionary Federation ticket received their mandates: Vahan Hovhanissian (ARF)–Armen Rustamian (ARF)–Alvart Petrosyan (ARF)–Levon Mkrtchian (ARF)–Armenouhi Mkrtchian (independent)–Hrair Karapetyan (ARF)–Rudik Hovsepian (ARF)–Mikael Vartanyan (independent)–Moushegh Mikaelyan (ARF)–Araik Krikoryan (independent)–and Vosdanik Maroukhyan (ARF).
The main opposition–led by the defeated presidential candidate Stepan Demirchian–boycotted the ceremony. In response–CEC’s Sahradian said: "I hope they will turn up to receive their mandates–as required by law."
