Galust Sahakyan has Repeatedly Seen Armenian Lawmakers Voting for Others

Head of the Republican Party of Armenia parliamentary faction Galust Sahakyan at a press conference in Yerevan today confessed to repeatedly seeing lawmakers voting for others in parliament.

Recall, an application was submitted to Armenia’s Special Investigation Service (SIS) to file proceedings against Republican Party of Armenia lawmakers Gagik Melikyan, Hermineh Naghdalyan, Areg Ghukasyan and Ara Babloyan for voting for absent lawmakers at a parliamentary sitting on Feb. 9. The SIS, in turn, appealed in writing to National Assembly chair Samvel Nikoyan, who, however, decided not to apply punitive measures to the lawmakers in question.

“It happens from one case to the next in all the factions. It’s the reason why all the possible scenarios of overcoming these breaches are inscribed in law,” he said.

“And the press writes that the National Assembly chair didn’t punish [the MPs] and so on and so forth. The National Assembly chair doesn’t have the authority, and the voting is fixed by law as a breach and not a false voting. The entire logic of the law is that in such cases, the National Assembly has to win, and I have to ask that you look at Article 56 and 61 of the [National Assembly’s] rules of procedure,” he said.