I am confident that Ishkhan Zakaryan's departure from the faction was not unexpected: Sos Hakobyan

The "Honorary" faction is not commenting on Ishkhan Zakaryan's decision to leave the faction. This was stated by the faction's secretary Hayk Mamikjanyan in an interview with NEWS.am.

Ishkhan Zakaryan participated in the parliamentary snap elections on June 20, 2021, under the alliance of the "Homeland" and the Republican Party of Armenia, forming the "Honorary" party. He represented the "Homeland" party.

Today, on December 10, Ishkhan Zakaryan announced in a statement that he is leaving the "Honorary" faction, noting that "any alliance has certain constraining factors, and his decision is mainly conditioned by that; he does not want his activities to be constrained."

Sos Hakobyan, the spokesperson for the "Homeland" party, responded to Ishkhan Zakaryan's decision to leave the faction in our conversation: "I am not fully aware of the reasons for leaving the faction. I think this is related to his activities; he stated in his announcement that he has proposals, and when he talks about them, it will become clear why he left the faction."

When asked if Ishkhan Zakaryan had ever expressed feelings of constraint within the "Homeland" party, Sos Hakobyan said, "Regarding parliamentary opposition activities, I have never heard such a thing; perhaps there are some new circumstances that Mr. Zakaryan has not yet spoken about. I am not aware if he has met with the party's president, Arthur Vanetsyan, or not, but I am confident that Ishkhan Zakaryan's departure from the faction was not unexpected. I do not have information on whether he was asked to renounce his mandate or not. In any case, it would be normal for someone leaving the faction to renounce their mandate," Sos Hakobyan added.

It should be noted that there were reports in the media in November that "Honorary" faction MP Ishkhan Zakaryan would leave the faction. At that time, Zakaryan neither confirmed nor denied the news.