Shoushan Petrosyan used to be a singer...Now she’s a legislator in the new parliament, having been elected to Armenia’s National Assembly on the Republican Party slate.

But don’t tell her that she’s moved from the realm of show business to the gritty world of politics. That will along get her blood boiling.

“I have always disliked the terms show business and stars. I have said so during my 20 year career. I categorically reject the crude inference made by reporters that now show biz has entered the parliament. No. Show biz hasn’t infiltrated the legislature but only one person has. That’s me, Shoushan Petrosyan.”

The singer turned MP told reporters, when she visited the Central Electoral Commission to pick up her mandate, that singing is just as important as working in the parliament and serving the nation.

“I will work in the National Assembly because we have grown tired of all these protests. For how long can we go on complaining that this or that is bad? By the way, many of the naysayers aren’t fully matured citizens. They are the youth who say that there is no work. But when you propose something their first question is how much is the salary. Tell them the job pays 60, 000AMD and their response is ‘you must be crazy’,” Petrosyan noted.

When asked if she could have been elected to parliament as an independent, Petrosyan said that the ruling Republican Party approached her with the offer to run on their ticket.

“Other parties could have made a similar offer. I would have mulled it over.”

Perosyan said that what was important was the adoption of a state mode of thinking and noted that the ideology of Garegin Nzhdeh must serve the country.

She confessed that she hadn’t followed the proceedings of the previous legislature, describing the body as uninteresting and lacking any real debate.

“What I find exciting is that there will be some diversity in the new parliament. There must be debate and movement. Above all else, we must develop a civilized culture within the legislature since we will serve as an example for the people.”

She noted that if all Armenia’s citizens took pride in their work, many things would change in the country. The singer added that it wasn’t shameful to work for a small pay check but that it was a shame not to work.

“I feel a deep sense of respect when I see those uniformed workers cleaning the streets at night. They are more patriotic than those others who boast and brag. Armenians have always been an industrious people who worked the land. Now, those concepts are only found in books.”