The incident was live streamed on the government’s YouTube channel. (Photo: YouTube screen grab)

An Argentinian politician has resigned after he was caught on camera kissing his girlfriend’s bare breasts during an online session of the country’s lower house of Congress. The incident was live streamed on the government’s YouTube channel as well as on a giant screen set up in congress for virtual debates during the pandemic, The Guardian reported.

In an official statement released on Twitter Friday, the lower house of Congress said that it had voted to accept the resignation of 47-year-old politician Juan Emilio Ameri, a representative from the northern province of Salta.

During a virtual debate about pension fund investments, Ameri’s girlfriend was seen sitting on his lap before the politician pulled down her black top and performed the act. He later claimed that he thought he was offline when the incident took place, The Guardian reported.

“I have a terrible [internet] connection at home,” he said during a radio interview. He explained that his girlfriend, who had recently undergone a breast augmentation surgery, entered the room when he thought that his camera was off and the meeting had ended.

“Let’s see how the implants look, I told her. Look, this one’s down more, this one’s down less, let’s look at the scars, and she was beside me and I kissed her tits, and that was all,” he recounted.

The politician from President Alberto Fernández’s Peronist party, was forced to resign after the incident. He initially pleaded to be suspended from his seat, but later agreed to tender his resignation, The Guardian report stated.

A statement released by the government’s bloc in the lower house, read, “We cannot allow irresponsibility of this magnitude, so we will guarantee that all the rules are applied so that he is sanctioned in the appropriate way according to the seriousness of his acts.”

Lawmakers across the world have been hosting virtual meetings during the coronavirus pandemic. In the past too, several politicians have slipped up during these online discussions. Earlier this year, a European Union lawmaker from Ireland, Ming Flanagan, appeared to be wearing no trousers during a meeting with his colleagues in the European Parliament.

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