RA NA speaker introduces legislation to tighten penalties for giving  or receiving election bribes

ArmInfo. Alen Simonyan, Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia, has introduced a legislative initiative that would tighten the previously established penalties for giving or receiving election bribes.

As Simonyan announced in a video posted on his Facebook page, he is  introducing this initiative together with members of parliament from  the ruling Civil Contract party, Arusyak Julhakyan, Alkhas Ghazaryan,  and Vahagn Aleksanyan. Thus, according to the Speaker of the Armenian  Parliament, the previously prescribed penalty for giving election  bribes, which was up to 8 years in prison, will be replaced with a  prison term of up to 10 years, while the penalty for receiving an  election bribe, which was up to 7 years in prison, will be replaced  with a prison term of up to 9 years.

"Now think about it: is it really worth getting a criminal record for  200,000 drams, a television, pants, or a kebab, getting involved in  all this, and jeopardizing our statehood, independence, and  independent decision-making? Honestly, I don't envy those who have  been involved in such processes up to this point," Simonyan  concluded.

It's worth noting that on May 13, several supporters of the Strong  Armenia party and employees of the political party's office were  brought to the Anti-Corruption Committee. This was not the first time  that party supporters have been detained on charges of giving and  receiving election bribery. The party claimed that this was yet  another attempt to interfere with the political force by intimidating  party members and obstructing their activities. On May 14, the  "Armenia" bloc of Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan,  confirmed reports that the Anti-Corruption Committee of Armenia had  conducted searches at the political force's office in Spitak. The  bloc noted that the searches were not unexpected and expressed its  belief that this was an attempt to intimidate their political force  ahead of the parliamentary elections on June 7, 2026. Furthermore,  the bloc emphasized that what was happening was not a legitimate  process, but another cheap attempt to disrupt the normal functioning  of the political force's structures.