National Assembly Rejects Bill on Compensation for Military Personnel's Unused Leave

Today, the National Assembly of Armenia did not include the bill proposed by the Bright Armenia faction in the agenda of its plenary session, which aimed to provide compensation for military personnel for unused vacation days. The proposal sought to establish that soldiers who are discharged and have not used their leave during their service would receive compensation equal to all unused leave days.

MP Taron Simonyan from Bright Armenia noted that compensation for unused leave is provided only for the last two years of service, while there is no compensation for any unused leave prior to that period. “We put forward an initiative to change this provision and ensure that it aligns with the general regulations applicable to all other public servants. Military service was the only exception. The logic behind this bill is to allow military personnel to benefit from that right as well,” he stated.

It should be mentioned that the main commission rendered a negative conclusion on the bill and proposed to the Bright Armenia faction to defer the discussions for a month so that the government could present its observations. However, the faction disagreed. Member of the Permanent Commission on Defense and Security, Armen Khachatryan, also acknowledged that the issue needs to be resolved, but emphasized that the current draft does not take into account how much funds would be required to compensate those soldiers who have not taken their leave for years.

In the voting, the bill received 32 votes in favor, 51 against, and 9 abstentions, ultimately not being included in the agenda.

The head of the Bright Armenia faction, Edmon Marukyan, stated during his speech that although their bill was rejected, he believes that the authorities will accept this proposal if they initiate it themselves. He reminded that similar situations have occurred in the past. “Well, live and let live, thank you, but at least say that 'Bright Armenia' proposed it, and it was rejected. If you had done this before the war, thousands of our boys would be with us. What kind of practice is this, dear colleagues?” Marukyan questioned, noting that the government adopts such behavior during election periods, rejecting their proposals and then presenting similar proposals later.