Alen Simonian Awards Only Members of the ruling Civil Contract Party: Here's Why
Despite the Armenian National Assembly Speaker's signed decree mentioning the awarding of MPs, it turns out that the awards only pertain to members of the 'Civil Contract' faction, reports hetq.am.
It was previously announced that on the occasion of Constitution Day, Speaker Alen Simonian awarded MPs, and since the decree did not specify any faction's MPs, we wrote that the awards were given to the members of the National Assembly.
After the publication, we were contacted by opposition MPs stating that they had not received any bonuses. In a conversation with us, Alen Simonian's press secretary, Tzuinara Khachatryan, confirmed that only the ruling coalition's MPs were awarded.
According to Khachatryan, the bonuses were given to the ruling party's MPs considering that the parliamentary session had finished, and they have been working hard in both committees and extraordinary sessions. Meanwhile, the opposition was not awarded due to their absences.