Armenia's ruling party nominates deputy speaker for Parliament chief

Armenia's ruling Civil Contract party has nominated Deputy Speaker Ruben Rubinyan for the post of Speaker of the National Assembly, Prime Minister and party leader Nikol Pashinyan announced following the party’s governing board meeting.

The decision was made during a session of the Civil Contract leadership, with Rubinyan emerging as the party's candidate for the parliamentary leadership position, Caliber.Az reports, citing Georgian media.

Rubinyan currently serves as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and is also Armenia's special representative in the normalization process with Türkiye.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Rubinyan said the selection process was conducted through a secret ballot, making it impossible to determine which candidates received support from individual party members.

He noted that three candidates had been considered for the position: himself, current National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan, and Civil Contract parliamentary faction leader Hayk Konjoryan.

Asked why he had been chosen for the role, Rubinyan said: "I think my colleagues believed that at this stage it would be more appropriate for me to hold this position."

The nomination comes amid ongoing political developments within Armenia's ruling party and parliament.

Rubinyan also addressed questions regarding his future involvement in Armenia-Türkiye negotiations, saying he does not yet know whether he will continue to participate in the dialogue process if elected speaker of parliament.

By Vafa Guliyeva