"Zhoghovurd": Why Nikol Pashinyan treated Alen Simonyan cruelly: what to expect

The “Zhoghovurd” daily writes: “Yesterday, Alen Simonyan announced to reporters that he will not be in the next parliament, will give up his parliamentary mandate, going on vacation. A man who was nominated as a candidate for the NA Speaker a week ago.

“I have discussed with the Prime Minister, I will not take the mandate, I will not come to the National Assembly. There is a party, there is a board, and I obey the board’s decision. I have not discussed further steps with the Prime Minister, but I cannot imagine myself in politics without Nikol Pashinyan… I have decided to take a vacation at my own request,” Alen Simonyan announced.

Although he is clearly offended by his teammates, in any case he expressed the following thought: “If the Prime Minister says do nothing for a year, I will most likely do so. Such are the rules of the game,” Alen Simonyan, who is still the Speaker of the NA, confessed.

Let us remind you that until yesterday, Alen Simonyan’s teammates were rushing to circulate their favorite versions on media platforms: that the NA Speaker will be appointed President of the Republic of Armenia, then it was written that no, he will become the Mayor of Yerevan, then that he may take up some ministerial position. However, in reality, he is not going anywhere. He is tired. Nikol Pashinyan has already publicly given the answer to that question, without any unnecessary embellishment.

When asked whether Alen Simonyan will continue his work in the parliament as an MP, Pashinyan had stated a few days ago:

“We will discuss, he will make a decision, and the team will make a decision. We will combine our opinions, discuss, and see. But I think it is very important that we not only have people in that status, but also people who have been in that status before, because, after all, it is an experience. At the moment, our team has two former NA Speakers, former ministers, a former Deputy Prime Minister, and so on. That is political capital, which I consider very important.”

In other words, according to Pashinyan, Alen Simonyan’s future in the CP is, in essence, the status of being “political capital”.

And why did the CP treat Alen Simonyan so cruelly?

CP sources from the Zhoghovurd daily explain that the reason is quite simple. While he was the NA Speaker, almost no one in the CP dared to openly oppose him or take any demonstrative steps, with the exception of Hayk Sargsyan, whom Alen Simonyan defeated and managed to exclude from the processes. The other CP members, according to these assessments, were simply waiting for a convenient moment from Alen Simonyan and his small team to “take revenge”.

It is said that from deputies to assistants, at different times for various reasons, they were offended by Alen Simonyan’s teammates, and these grievances accumulated over time. There are MPs who have never gone on any business trip in 5 years, but Alen Simonyan's former assistant Hasmik Hakobyan has been everywhere next to the NA Speaker. There are CP MPs for whom Alen Simonyan was inaccessible, his small team-mates blocked many CP members from entering the NA Speaker's office, and so on. The CP recalls everything in turn and urges not to be surprised why it turned out this way. Nikol Pashinyan was informed about everything and conclusions were drawn. Of course, the shameful story of spitting on a citizen, the behavior of Simonyan's mother, the corruption scandals of his brother and his wife could not escape Pashinyan's eyes. As a result, today Alen Simonyan can mainly be seen only with representatives of his closest circle: former assistant, now advisor Ashkhen Hayrapetyan, MP Hasmik Hakobyan, and her partner, NA Chief of Staff Davit Arakelyan. "Yesterday he was already entering the parliament chambers, saying goodbye to the staff."