Some Candidates Think Old Tactics Will Prevail: Simonyan

The Speaker of the National Assembly, Alen Simonyan, has addressed the arrests related to the local self-government elections in Gyumri that took place this morning.

"Some candidates are trying to pressure voters and believe that old tactics will work. There are no such accusations against the candidates who are above suspicion," he stated.

Simonyan noted that there have been communities where the Civil Contract party has lost, and that they have also engaged in coalition governance in Gyumri. "But I don’t think we will lose there," he added.

Simonyan also responded to the question of why the arrests happened three days prior to the elections: "When should someone who is going to rig the elections do so, a year in advance, or a year later? This kind of action, this pressure, is applied just a few days before the elections, and law enforcement responds to it," he concluded.