Simonyan votes, expects no post-election developments

Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan, a senior member of the Civil Contract party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, cast his ballot on Sunday in the parliamentary elections.

He came to the polling station with his daughter and said he wants her to live in a “peaceful, rich, and open country.”

Speaking at a press briefing, Simonyan called on citizens to do everything to ensure a peaceful and free country.

Speaking about the ongoing criminal investigations into alleged vote-buying, as well as recordings released by law enforcement agencies, he said the public has a clearly negative opinion of the alleged bribery schemes.

“People who had no intention of voting, and those who were inclined to vote for those forces, are now either refraining or are going to vote very actively,” the Speaker of Parliament said, expressing hope that law enforcement bodies will hold everyone involved in the vote-buying schemes accountable.

Most allegations of vote buying have involved the Strong Armenia bloc.

The Speaker said he believes that only those who have distributed vote-bribes should be afraid. According to him, those political forces know they have no voters and therefore resort to such actions.

“I am sure they understand that they are going to lose and may stop engaging in politics, and the money stolen from the state will be returned so they cannot distribute vote-bribes. Seven or eight years ago we were fighting to ensure that the authorities did not distribute money; now we are fighting to ensure that the opposition does not distribute money,” the Speaker stressed, adding that a legislative initiative has already been put into circulation, under which the punishment for vote-buying will be increased from 7–8 years to 9–10 years.

Simonyan is confident that there will be no post-election processes. “If elections are free and fair, as they have been since 2018, regardless of who wins, such a thing cannot happen. It is impossible,” he said.

Simonyan said he is satisfied with the course of the campaign. He said Civil Contract has received a very warm welcome everywhere and encountered a conscious attitude. According to him, people understand that the choice is about peace and the future. Simonyan is confident that very few people will choose the past.

He believes they have increased voter turnout. “At the rally in Republic Square, I was moved several times because the energy, the sparkle in people’s eyes that I saw was something I had seen during the 2018 revolution. It was unbelievable, fantastic. We did not even think that so many people would come,” Simonyan said, adding that he hopes that in 2031, the prime ministerial candidate of the Civil Contract party will again be Nikol Pashinyan.