YEREVAN. – The Armenian parliament on Monday passed on first reading the bill on the wages of state officials with a vote of 69 for, 31 against, and 6 abstentions.

The bill provides increase in wages of state officials, including high ranking officials, the Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent reports from parliament.

The opposition Heritage and the Armenian National Congress (ANC) opposed the bill. According to the head of Heritage faction Zaruhi Postanjyan, they have no moral right to vote for an increase to salaries as long as more than a million Armenians are underfed.

A similar opinion was expressed by the head of ANC faction Levon Zurabyan: “While the country is mired in corruption, you need to think about solving different problems.”

Secretary of ARF parliamentary faction Aghvan Vardanyan noted that a number of provisions of the law provoke a negative response, but we must remember that the law is not only about more than 600 policy makers, but also  about 164.5 thousand civil servants at all levels.