The authorities have communicated with the people, but they want something else: Simonian on not holding snap elections

We have made a proposal, but the opposition does not respond and speaks of different, contradictory things. Numerous meetings with the citizens of Armenia show the same thing: people say, 'We elected you, go do your job, then it will be clear,' said Alen Simonian, the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, during a meeting with journalists.

In response to the observation that, in this situation, the opposition has only one way left—street protests, and that Marukyan has stated that such a decision could lead to an unconstitutional situation and undesirable actions, Simonian replied, 'The authorities made a proposal after losing in the war. We have stated several times from the podium: let's agree that no candidate will be nominated, we will go to elections and set deadlines. Have they stopped their street protests? There is no need to inject something that does not correspond to reality into the agenda of the authorities. They do not want to go to elections because they know that, at best, the same picture will emerge and, at worst, I do not rule out that at least one of those parties may not appear in the parliament after the next parliamentary elections. Now should we go door-to-door and try to persuade the opposition figures to agree to elections?

According to him, it is important to consider the citizens' opinions regarding snap elections, but he does not see such a demand: 'The authorities made a proposal and then went to communicate with the people; they want something else. They are saying, 'Eliminate the velvet, there will be no velvet in terms of the law, the law will work very strictly.' People are saying, 'Get rid of the velvet, manage the country; we have elected you.'

To the question of whether 'Bright Armenia' has proposed creating a commission that would examine the course of the war and identify the guilty, but has received no response and instead received a vague answer, Simonian replied that in the coming months, we cannot start such a process, as the issue of prisoners of war has not been resolved and could again become a reason for manipulation and affect the negotiation process. 'Definitely all questions need to be answered; it is in the interest of the authorities that no dark questions remain, although I am sure that it will not entirely shed light on everything, but it is necessary.'