YEREVAN. – In line with the new Electoral Code, the next Armenian parliament will have more female MPs, and therefore certain female oligarchs have already begun competing with the men, and some have even already stated that they are prepared to pay twice as much just to “own a mandate,” Hraparak daily writes.  

“According to our information, MP Hermine Naghdalyan will definitely have a mandate. By the way, she is an MP since 1995. [Former Minister of Interior and Mayor of Yerevan] Vano Siradeghyan believed that women are more useful to the country and stronger than men. And that is why he formed the Shamiram organization, which entered the National Assembly several months later. Shamiram had 8 MPs, and received approximately 20 percent of the votes,” Hraparak writes.