Lawmakers raise expenses for their meeting with voters fivefold

YEREVAN, July 15. /ARKA/. An extraordinary session of the outgoing Armenian parliament passed today in the first reading a set of amendments to the law on payments to persons holding public office.

One of the authors of the bill, MP from the ruling My Step bloc Viktor Yengibaryan said the amendments propose to increase the amount provided to lawmakers to cover the expenses related to their travels and meetings with voters fivefold - from 50 thousand drams to 250 thousand drams.

"The current rate was approved back in 2013, but since then there have been many changes in the country, in particular, Armenia became a parliamentary republic in 2018," Yengibaryan said.

In addition, according to him, the past 2.5 years have shown that 50 thousand drams are no longer enough to cover the material and technical expenses of the deputies, the bulk of which are fuel expenses.

He said the amendments are expected to strengthen the institution of deputies, who should meet more often with voters.

At the same time, he noted that budget expenditures will not increase significantly. In 2020 some 274.5 million drams were paid to lawmakers to cover these expenses. As a result of the changes, these expenses will drop by 17.7 million drams to 256.8 million drams, including due to the less number of deputies in the new parliament. ($1 - 495.61 drams). -0-