The length of the service for Armenian men aged 18 and older has long been set at two years. The bill would give them the option of serving in the armed forces only one or four months in exchange for paying 24 million drams ($61,500) and 18 million drams ($46,000) respectively.
Hayk Sargsian, a pro-government parliamentarian and the main author of the bill, has argued that affluent parents already pay bribes or find other ways to exempt their teenage sons from the military duty. He has claimed that the legal fees would largely eliminate the practice and generate more revenue to the state budget.
Opposition parliamentarians and other critics of the government have strongly condemned the bill approved by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet late last month, saying that it would weaken the army, legalize privileged treatment of the rich and severely undermine social cohesion. They say it also runs counter to the principle of citizens’ equality before the law enshrined in the Armenian constitution.
The growing opposition criticism echoed by many ordinary Armenian has caused many lawmakers from Pashinian’s Civil Contract party to have second thoughts about the wisdom of the proposed arrangement. The parliament committee on defense and security pointedly declined to endorse it last week, exposing their serious misgivings.
The change of heart led the National Assembly to vote against including the bill on its agenda. Civil Contract’s parliamentary leader, Hayk Konjorian, said the pro-government majority “cannot pass this bill in its current form at the moment.”
Significantly, Sargsian was among the 87 parliament deputies who blocked it. The lawmaker insisted as recently as on Monday that most of his Civil Contract colleagues support the bill and that he will therefore insist on its quick passage. But minutes before Tuesday’s vote, he said he will now follow Pashinian’s “instruction” to hold further discussions on the issue.