I really have a bad attitude towards that. This is what Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Alen Simonyan told reporters today when asked how likely does he think it is for the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun political party and One Armenia Party to join forces and become the authorities’ main opponent.

“I have a bad attitude towards that not because it is troubling, but because ‘fragments’ of the Republican Party of Armenia, ‘fragments’ of forces under the influence of Mikayel Minasyan and ‘fragments’ under the influence of certain other countries are gathering in one place and are trying to compete with the authorities, making people choose between the old and the new. They need to leave and let new people enter the field,” he said.

Simonyan added that this also hurts the authorities because the authorities only talk about the former corrupt officials, but in terms of political competition, Simonyan says he is waiting for the former authorities to debate with him before elections and see what they have to say to the citizens of Armenia. “They say they have come to save the homeland. What homeland? They should take a tour of the country and see if people know them or not or if they want to see them in power. They can’t trick the people,” Simonyan said.