To Be or Not to Be the Speaker of the National Assembly: Decision Today

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports that the Constitutional Court will examine today the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the election of Alen Simonyan as Speaker of the National Assembly by the opposition.

About a week ago, the Constitutional Court decided to review the application not in an oral procedure, as previously planned, but in writing. With this application, the opposition demands the annulment of Simonyan's election as Speaker of the National Assembly, claiming that unequal conditions have been created, preventing their proposed candidates, Arthur Sargsyan and Mkrtich Zakaryan, from participating as they are currently in detention.

We had previously reported that the Constitutional Court prefers written procedures for political issues, reviewing applications in a closed regime and subsequently publishing its decision. Apparently, the Court had received a political order to give greater resonance to the Simonyan issue, and now, when Nikol Pashinyan is in a precarious position, they might not want to provoke any processes against their own associates. Therefore, it seems that the Court has been instructed to resolve the matter quietly.

When asked who proposed the switch from an oral to a written procedure, the Constitutional Court suggested sending a written inquiry.

For more details, refer to today’s issue of the newspaper.