Parliament unanimously approves draft law on stricter criminal responsibility for election bribes

The Armenian parliament has finally approved the draft law on making changes in the Criminal Code.

The lawmakers unanimously voted in favor of the bill that envisages criminal responsibility for election frauds and particularly for giving or taking election bribes. Eighty two MPs participated in the voting.

In his concluding speech deputy justice minister Arthur Hovhanissyan stated that they have accepted the proposals of the Republican party faction members and made some clarifications. “Our deepest conviction is that this bill should not raise serious concerns anymore,” Hovhanissyan said.

“The government representative clearly registered that all the concerns we have voiced have been fixed. We have viewed the bill and registered that all the proposals have been accepted, consequently I will offer my colleagues to back the bill,” Republican party MP Gevorg Kostanyan said before voting.