YEREVAN. – Armenian National Assembly’s (NA) now-resigned Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan’s Chief Advisor, Viktor Mnatsakanyan, Speaker’s assistant, Sergey Lokyan, and NA Cultural Affairs Person in Charge, Armine Antikyan confirmed to Armenian News-NEWS.am that they indeed submitted their resignations.

But Antikyan did not wish to discuss the reasons for her resignation and added: “I have an eleven-year television journalism experience, and I will probably continue working in the same field.”

Sergey Lokyan, on the other hand, did not mention where he would work, adding: “Time will tell. We came as a team, and we had to leave as a team from the National Assembly. There are no personal reasons.”

And Viktor Mnatsakanyan noted he will continue his activities as a lecturer and in the social sphere. “My work is a discretionary position, which assumes that I was employed together with Mr. Abrahamyan, and [therefore] I have to leave with him,” Mnatsakanyan added.      

To note, Hovik Abrahamyan handed in his resignation on Monday, and he addressed the MPs specifically as follows:

“Fully acknowledging the responsibility before the people, the [ruling coalition’s Republican] Party [of Armenia], and the President, I present my letter of resignation. Being elected NA Speaker, I announced the Parliament must work transparently, and let it not sound immodest [on my part], but it seems to me we have achieved that. This was a serious phase for me. I am confident NA would continue to be the defender of the interests of the state and people. Our country is entering the phase of regular elections, whose high-level conduct will be to the honor us all and, first and foremost, of the authorities. On numerous occasions, the authorities stated the holding of free and fair elections. Its political will exists.”