Armenia plans tougher penalties for vote buying

Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan, a senior member of the Civil Contract party, has announced a legislative initiative aimed at increasing criminal penalties for electoral bribery.

Simonyan made the announcement on social media, saying the legislation would be debated at an extraordinary session of parliament.

According to him, the proposed change concerns the penalties prescribed for both giving and receiving electoral bribes. “We are talking about giving and receiving electoral bribery. The punishment for these acts will be made stricter,” Simonyan said.

The Speaker said that the proposed amendments would raise the maximum prison term for accepting an electoral bribe from 7 to 9 years. He also noted that the punishment for offering such bribes would also become stricter, increasing the maximum sentence from 8 to 10 years in prison.

“Of course, this is not the only tool that will be used against those who give and receive electoral bribes. There will be other tools as well, and there will also be political consequences,” the Speaker said.