Head of Armenian parliament’s office to resign

The head of the Armenian parliament’s office Vahan Naribekyan will resign in the coming days, Report informs referring to Zhoghovurd newspaper.

Earlier, the publication reported that the ruling parliamentary faction "Civil Contract" on January 30 held a meeting behind closed doors. It was noted that the main topic of discussion was the initiative of the head of the faction Hayk Konjoryan, the secretary of the faction Artur Hovhannisyan and their assistants.

According to the newspaper, MPs' aides from the ruling faction are demanding bonuses from National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan and Chief of Staff Vahan Naribekyan. Meanwhile, according to the law, bonuses are issued only to civil servants.

Deputies Konjoryan and Hovhannisyan set themselves the task of getting these bonuses at any cost, putting forward the condition that otherwise the National Assembly Chief of Staff and his team must leave.

As a result, during a closed meeting, it was decided not to give out bonuses to assistants to deputies, to close the topic, and to dismiss the head of the parliament's staff.

In July 2022, deputies of the Armenian Parliament from the Civil Contract faction received bonuses totaling 48.8 million drams (more than $115,000) on the occasion of the Constitution Day. Parliamentarians received remuneration in the amount of a monthly salary – 661,000 drams (more than $1,500) without taxes, and heads of parliamentary commissions – 739,000 drams (about $2,000) without taxes.