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The Armenian National Assembly overwhelmingly passed in the first reading the draft law proposing amendments to the law “On the Funded Pension System”.

The bill received 79 votes for and 2 against, with 7 abstentions.

Ahead of the voting, Tsarukyan Alliance PM Naira Zohrabyan stressed the block has always apposed the introduction of the mandatory funded pension system. “We have not changed our principled approach, however the presented version easies the burden of young families at some extent,” she said. “We will vote in favour [of the bill] on condition that we continue discussions with the government to remove the mandatory component at all.”

ARF faction head Armen Rustamyan voiced his bloc’s intention to abstain from voting, claiming the amended bill fails to solve the issue of the compulsory component of the system.

MP Edmon Marukyan from the Yelk faction unveiled their decision to vote in favor, stressing the need to take a step back in the issue and resume its discussions afterwards.

Under the bill, the employees born after 1973 will pay a 2,5 percent of their monthly salaries to the funded pension system instead of the previous 5 percent.