YEREVAN. – Businesses should not be interested in becoming part of government circles.

The First Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, Ararat Mirzoyan, on Thursday told the abovementioned to reporters during the UK-Armenia business forum in capital city Yerevan. 

When asked whether there will be no more businessmen MPs after the snap parliamentary election in the country, he responded as follows: “We all know that businessmen [in Armenia] wished to be in parliament in order to have personal immunity too, that they have some guarantees for their businesses too; [but] now there is no need for that. (…). I believe [these] people [now] must choose: to go and manage their business, or to come to the parliament and be a deputy.”

Mirzoyan noted that, as a rule, businessmen MPs’ efficiency coefficient in parliament is very low because they do not come to the legislature to engage in legislative activities, but just to safeguard their businesses.  

“[But] now there is no need [in Armenia] to protect that business,” the first deputy PM added. “And the need for spending millions of dollars to get a [MP’s] mandate disappears.

“The rules are equal for everyone, and people should decide.”