Debate had run since Monday, and Monday had set the register: Anna Grigoryan of the opposition Hayastan faction told the chamber the programme's "entire content will be a disgrace", and Tuesday's arithmetic answered her with 63 green lights. The vote lands 5 days after the cabinet approved the text as item 24 of its 20 August sitting, well inside the 20-day constitutional window. The 24 against came from the opposition benches; only the ruling faction voted for, and parts of the opposition refused to take part in the vote at all. This is the programme that frames peace inside 29,743 square kilometres and promises a transformation of external partnerships, the one we set out when the cabinet cleared it.
The chamber then turned to furniture that matches the text: the election of a chair for the standing committee on European integration, for which the opposition Strong Armenia faction nominated Harutyun Harutyunyan. Committee-building is the quieter half of programme politics. A chair from the opposition would seat a critic where the European files land first, and the ruling bench holds the votes that decide whether that happens.
The 24 against came from the opposition benches; only the ruling faction voted for
Delivery now has a clock. Adoption starts it on a text every other faction voted against or declined to vote on. The programme's 5 years now belong to one party, and so does everything those years produce. The arithmetic is the fact: one party's programme, carried on one party's votes.