Alen Simonyan is the candidate of Civil Contract Party for Speaker of the National Assembly. This is what deputy of the My Step faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Hrachya Hakobyan told RL/RFE Armenian Service.

“Yes, there are also candidates for deputy parliamentary speakers, including Hakob Arshakyan and Ruben Rubinyan. Discussions on the candidates for members of government are in progress, but I can’t say exactly who will be appointed,” he said.

Asked if the political party is considering appointing Ararat Mirzoyan [current parliamentary speaker] to a position in government, Hakobyan said he didn’t have any information about Mirzoyan since the discussions are mainly held by the political party’s board and he’s not a member.

Asked how it was decided that Alen Simonyan should be parliamentary speaker, Hakobyan said either he nominated himself or someone else nominated him, and after discussions, the political party made a decision to nominate Alen Simonyan.