YEREVAN, AUGUST 30, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government seeks to establish criminal penalty for electoral bribery, aka vote buying.

Currently electoral bribery is considered an administrative offense under Armenian law, and the government wants to shift it under the Criminal Code.

The bill was approved today at the Cabinet meeting and will be forwarded to parliament.

Justice minister Artak Zeynalyan said representatives of the civil society have taken part in the development of the amendments.

He said that under the new law, vote buying and electoral bribery will be a criminal offense with imprisonment, in addition to penalties.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan