Armenian parliament votes in favor of bill on accumulative pensions

Armenia’s National Assembly adopted today the draft law on amendments to the Law on Accumulative Pensions on first reading. Although the draft was adopted in quite a tense atmosphere, nevertheless, 67 deputies voted in favor.

The secretary of ARF-Dashnaktsutyun faction Aghvan Vardanyan accused representatives of the parliamentary majority – Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) of violating the NA Rules of Procedure and rigging the vote results.

“When we report that a deputy voted instead of an absent one, you should react to it. We won’t get very far with such methods. I ask you to act within legal boundaries,” Aghvan Vardanyan said.

Another ARFD deputy, Artsvik Minasyan, said that ARFD faction did not vote on amendments and additions to the Law on Accumulative Pensions because it is the principled stand of their party. “Only HHK representatives and independent deputies – 64 people are in the parliament’s session hall. Respected speaker of the parliament, there was a violation of the NA Rules of Procedure,” Minasyan said.

HHK faction member Spartak Melikyan denied accusations that some deputies voted instead of others to secure a quorum.

The head of HHK faction Vahram Baghdasaryan urged the colleagues-oppositionists to count the number of the deputies on the spot to make sure that there was no violation. NA speaker Galust Sahakyan supported his proposal.

Deputy of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) faction Levon Zurabyan declared that the four non-coalition political forces and independent deputies are opposed to the new pension bill. He requested a 20-minute break, but the parliamentary sitting was not interrupted.

“Your incapacity should not affect normal work of the parliament,” speaker Galust Sahakyan replied.