Epress.am News from Armenia
Republican Party of Armenia MP and chair of the parliamentary Economic Affairs Committee Vardan Ayvazyan explained voting in place of other MPs on a bill as a display of friendship. Ayvazyan said this himself at a press conference today where he addressed an incident caught on camera two weeks ago in which he, along with other lawmakers, can be seen voting in place of their absent colleagues in the National Assembly.
“There comes a time when you too leave [the room] for a very important task for a minute, and you say if they’re voting, vote in my place. If you’ve been sitting side-by-side for 5 years and your friend leaves to take care of his natural urges, what would you do if it was you?” he said, confessing that incidents of lawmakers voting for each other in parliament have happened before too.
“What, should I lie, if I’ve seen that they’re voting for someone else? But I myself have never voted in someone else’s place,” he added.
Ayvazyan considered it necessary to point out that only Republican Party of Armenia MPs’ voting practices are being discussed and criticized in the press because the attention is focused on their majority status in parliament.
“All the cameras are on us. Turn them to the other side too,” he advised.