Just weeks before the elections, Nikol Pashinyan proposed a controversial arrangement for drivers who lost their licenses due to drunk driving violations, suggesting their licenses could be restored after one year without the need to retake driving exams.
“Once your driver’s licenses are reinstated after a year, you will not have to take an exam again. However, for that year those drivers will receive only 6 points instead of 13. If during that year they are not stripped of their licenses again, then the following year they will once again have 13 points,” Pashinyan said.
He added that there was “one catch”:
“If for any reason those points are reduced to zero, then there is no other option except taking the exam again.”
After receiving approval from the affected drivers present at the meeting, Pashinyan said the proposal would be opened for public discussion.
Earlier in the campaign, the same individuals had raised the issue with Pashinyan. At the time, he said he had discussed the matter with Armenia’s Interior Ministry and explored ways he could personally intervene. According to Pashinyan, current legislation leaves no alternative other than requiring drivers to retake the exam one year later in order to regain their licenses.
The proposal comes just ahead of the elections and appeared to many as an attempt to win support from penalized drivers by easing consequences for drunk driving offenses. The move, however, undermines accountability and sends the wrong message about road safety and the rule of law during an election period.
