YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 16, ARMENPRESS. Distributing bribes ahead of the upcoming early parliamentary elections will be impermissible for the leadership, therefore, for all political forces.

Yelk faction MP Alen Simonyan says the elections will fix the results of the revolution and will reject the Republican Party.

The lawmaker gave an interview to ARMENPRESS talking about the upcoming elections.

-Mr. Simonyan, you are going to participate in the elections with an alliance with the Mission party. Why with the Mission party?

-There is no surprise in this regard, we also participated in the Yerevan City Council elections with this party. This is a result of approaches and negotiations.

-You stated that your pre-election list will have no surprises, the list is already announced, and in fact it includes journalists, athletes. Do you think this was not a surprise for the public?

-There are no odious faces. There were rumors that there will be persons in the list from the Republicans, even [actor] Hovhannes Azoyan, but there is no surprise in this regard. There are only three journalists in the list. I think we cannot say that this candidate was a surprise. There were really no major surprises.

-Arsen Julfalayan’s [athlete] candidacy was a real surprise, he has never been engaged in politics.

-I am confident he can.

-Mr. Simonyan, the Republican Party faction lawmakers state that these elections are elections to form an opposition, rather than parliament or power. Do you agree with this opinion?

-No, these parliamentary elections are going to fix the results of the revolution and reject the Republican Party.

-In one of the interviews Vigen Sargsyan, who heads the list of the Republican Party, said they are the only force that can counterbalance the PM’s political force. Do you consider them a counterbalance force to you?

-No, I think that the Republican Party should stand away from the political field in the coming ten years. Maybe in such case the citizen of Armenia can forget, forgive and later vote for their proposals. They have nothing to do with the opposition as they don’t know the people and are unaware of their problems. There are many political figures, parties in the field which will be a very good opposition and will criticize us if this is the Republican’s criteria for opposition. They made one more mistake when they stated that the Civil Contract party has just 7% of votes, and they are the power in Armenia, but we saw what happened. In my opinion, they should stand away from the political field for some time in order to restore the connection with the reality.

-In other words, you rule out that the RPA will be elected to the Parliament?

-The citizens must decide, but I think there is low possibility for them to be elected to the Parliament.

-In one of his interviews MP Edmon Marukyan said the Im Kayl (My Step) alliance has an obvious supremacy in the elections and will be elected to the Parliament in the first place, and they will try to fight for the second place. Do you have that confidence that you have an obvious supremacy?

-If I say that there is no such an opinion, it won’t be honest, I hope that it will be so. But the election is of the people, they may decide not to vote for us, but to vote in favor of Edmon Marukyan. But I think that at this stage we should deliver the revolution to its end together with the people. Therefore, I hope that the people will continue the cooperation with us.

-Mr. Simonyan, will there be equal conditions for all factions during the upcoming elections?

-Undoubtedly, no one will face any problem with the data and organization. I am confident that any fraud attempt will be reacted by the law enforcement agencies, and we all will witness it. I think that nothing can be said for sure, but I don’t see the candidates for which one can take risks and I don’t see the political situation and the political outcome for which one can take risks. There is no need for many figures to appear in the Parliament in order to have a “roof”. They need to understand this.

Full version of the interview is available in Armenian.

Interview by Anna Grigoryan

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan