YEREVAN, MAY 23, ARMENPRESS. Just days after being named Member of Parliament as a replacement when certain seats became vacant in the Armenian parliament as the new government was formed, Alen Simonyan surprisingly resigned. He took part in the May 22 sitting of the parliament and later announced he is quitting as MP.

Now, Ani Khachatryan (see photo above) from the “Republic” Party is believed to be named as replacement for Simonyan.

Simonyan, a City Council member of Yerevan, decided to keep his mandate at the City Hall. Alen Simonyan replaced Nikol Pashinyan in the parliament as the latter was elected Prime Minister on May 8. The replacements are being done through the results of the previous election. i.e Alen Simonyan was the candidate who had garnered the most votes after Nikol Pashinyan in the party list of Yelk in the 4th electoral district.

Now, the next logical replacement for Simonyan would be the next candidate who had the most votes, but – that candidate is Eduard Aghajanyan, the current chief of staff of the PM’s office, and Ani Khachatryan is the next in line. It is noteworthy that Ani Khachatryan had garnered only 409 votes.

ENGLISH: Editor/Translator - Stepan Kocharyan