The National Assembly on Wednesday summed up the election of the Supreme Judicial Council, a new body tasked with overseeing Armenia’s courts, replacing the Council of Justice.

The five members, nominated by the ruling Republican Armenia (ARF-D), and its coalition partner, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D), were elected to the initially intended posts.

After the voting, they all swore in an official oath-taking ceremomy, promising to guarantee rule of law and the independence of judges in the Republic of Armneia.

Under the amended Constitution, five of the 10 Council members are elected by the National Assembly in a secret ballot. The candidacy of the rest is approved by the general assembly of judges.

Some 98 members of the 98-seat parliament participated in the voting. Gagik Harutyunyan, the outgoing president of the Constitutional Court, received 96 votes “for” and only two votes “against”. Gevorg Danielyan, a former minister of justice (intended term of office: five years), was elected with 90 votes “in favor” and seven votes “against”. Liparit Melikjanyan, who was nominated for the third position (five years), received support by 82 lawmakers; 15 voted “against” and one ballot paper was declared invalid. Hayk Hovhannisyan secured 86 positive votes to be elected to the fourth position (three years). The fifth candidate, Sergey Meghryan (also three years) received 82 votes “in favor” and 10 votes “against”.