Iravunk daily of Armenia writes. It is known that [Armenian PM] Nikol [Pashinyan] is already actively preparing for the 2026 parliamentary elections. The [local] elections in Gyumri [city] and Parakar [village] were a big wake-up call for him that the situation of the CC [i.e. the ruling Civil Contract Party and its parliamentary faction] is serious. Social surveys also indicate that Nikol's [popularity] rating does not even reach 20 percent.

In this difficult situation, Nikol is trying to find a common language with the main foreign players to ensure his re-election. However, everything is more than complicated for Nikol in this field, too. In the geopolitical situation that is changing day by day, it is not clear what will happen in the world in a year. That is why Nikol does not know what he will agree with whom. According to his character, he is trying to satisfy all the main players: Russians, Americans, Europeans, and Turks. To what extent he will succeed is a question.

However, in order to satisfy the Russians, he has decided to sacrifice [National Assembly (NA) speaker] Alen Simonyan, someone whom the Russians do not like, who at the same time has a very negative [popularity] rating inside Armenia. The series of scandals related to Alen has recently been supplemented by articles published in a number of foreign media outlets, where Alen is compared to the American pedophile [Jeffrey] Epstein. In addition, Nikol considers Alen to be a person viewed by the globalists as the main candidate for [Armenia’s] prime minister, who could replace him if the globalists succeed. 

According to Nikol's entourage, the matter of Alen has now been resolved, and he will not be the future NA speaker if Nikol wins [the elections]; Nikol has already assured the Russians of this. And in order for Alen not to get too active, Nikol is keeping the stone cases related to Alen's closest relatives in a suspended state.