Alen Simonyan renounced his deputy mandate.

The Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, has decided to renounce his deputy mandate after the "Civil Contract" party decided to support Ruben Rubinyan for the position of speaker.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", seven political forces have appealed to the Constitutional Court of Armenia. They are contesting the CEC's decision from June 14 regarding the results of the National Assembly elections, according to which the "Civil Contract" party received 61 mandates in parliament, the "Strong Armenia" bloc received 28 mandates, and the "Armenia" bloc received 12 mandates. Taking into account the mandates of national minorities, the "Civil Contract" has 64 mandates, while the Karapetyan bloc has 29. The court has gone into deliberation, and the decision is to be announced no later than July 4. The applicants have presented all grounds for reviewing the election results, but the authorities raised the salaries of the Constitutional Court judges before the elections, which could be related to possible lawsuits challenging the results, the opposition indicated.

The Speaker of the Parliament, Alen Simonyan, told journalists that he would renounce the deputy mandate of the new convocation of parliament and would not work in the National Assembly as a deputy, stating that he "wants to take a little break." Simonyan noted that he does not intend to leave the "Civil Contract" party, although he has not yet decided what he will do next. At the same time, he emphasized that he "does not close the door to politics," writes Armenia Today.

"I do not see myself in any political process without Nikol Pashinyan," said Simonyan, adding that he has not discussed his further political future with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

He rejected media reports about his possible candidacy for the presidency of Armenia, calling such information "absurd." "This is complete nonsense. I have never had such conversations with anyone. Armenia has a president whom I deeply respect as a citizen. This issue has never been discussed with any official. I ask to stop such talks — they are inappropriate," he noted.

According to Simonyan, he wanted to continue his work as the chairman of the parliament. But there is a party and a leadership, and I have always noted - as the leadership decides, said the chairman of the National Assembly of Armenia, Alen Simonyan, at a briefing on July 2, answering the question of whether he feels offended that the "Civil Contract" preferred to have a new speaker in the new parliament - Ruben Rubinyan, reports News.Am.

"I do not have any particular offense; I think that the work process implies that there should be some changes. I assume that at some stage, in some place, I will be useful to our country, our party. I discussed this with the Prime Minister, and I also spoke with the leadership. I will not take the mandate and will not come to parliament as a deputy," said Simonyan.

Alen Simonyan was also among the candidates for the position of speaker of the new parliament. However, the leadership of the ruling "Civil Contract" party approved not his candidacy, but that of the current vice-speaker of the Parliament of Armenia, Ruben Rubinyan.