The delegation headed by speaker Alen Simonian is due to meet in Washington with the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and other members of the U.S. Congress. Simonian personally decided its composition.
He did not appoint any deputies from the main opposition Hayastan alliance. Nor did he ask it to name a representative for the trip to Washington.
Hayastan, which has the second largest group in the National Assembly, said in December that it will not join Armenian parliamentary delegations travelling abroad until the authorities lift travel bans imposed on 12 of its 29 lawmakers. The bans stem from various criminal charges rejected by the bloc as politically motivated.
Simonian’s delegation included instead Artur Vanetsian, a leader of Pativ Unem, the other opposition alliance represented in the parliament. However, Vanetsian pulled out of the trip at the last minute.
Explaining the decision, A Pativ Unem spokesman, Sos Hakobian, said that just hours before the delegation’s departure to Washington Vanetsian was informed that he will not be allowed to attend Simonian’s meeting with Pelosi.
The Armenian speaker will be accompanied only by Hayk Konjorian, a senior pro-government lawmaker, and Lilit Makunts, the Armenian ambassador to the U.S. Makunts is also a political ally of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
Hakobian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that Vanetsian’s “undemocratic” exclusion from the meeting with Pelosi made his participation in the trip “meaningless.”
“All other meetings and events [in Washington] will be largely ceremonial in nature,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Simonian rejected the criticism on Monday, saying that Pelosi is scheduled to meet with her Armenian counterpart, rather than the delegation.
“And the chairman of the National Assembly himself decides the composition of the delegation,” she added.