Ruben Rubinyan, a candidate from the ruling Civil Contract faction, was elected speaker of Armenia’s new parliament today.

Ninety-one of the 105 lawmakers participated in the vote. Rubinyan received 63 votes in favor and 28 against, while the opposition Hayastan (Armenia) faction did not participate.

The Armenia and Strong Armenia factions did not nominate a candidate for the post.

Rubinyan served as deputy speaker in the previous parliament.

He is the acting Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. From 2022 to 2026, Rubinyan served as Armenia’s Special Representative for the normalization process with Turkey.

In a speech two days ago, Rubinyan proposed having a constructive parliament. He pointed out that the legislature is generally regarded as “a place for meaningless, fruitless disputes, slander, and insults” and that many predict that the new parliament will be even worse.  National Assembly of this convocation will be even worse in that sense than the previous one.

"In fact, it doesn't matter whether a person is pro-government or oppositionist, everyone seems to predict such a fate for us, and I want to suggest that we break this fate or curse together, whatever you want to call it," Rubinyan noted.

He claimed that one of the main reasons for this is the opposition's failure to accept the people's choice, noting that this phenomenon began with the 2018 Velvet Revolution" and has deepened after the 2020 Artsakh War.

Rubinyan proposed a civilized debate, a civilized parliamentary environment, as a zero point for creating a more efficient parliament. If the opposition accepts his proposal, Rubinyan guaranteed that the ruling parliamentary faction would respond accordingly. If not, he warned that his faction is ready for the fight.

Strong Armenia faction MPs asked Rubinyan about his time in Turkey, 2017-2018, conducting academic research in Istanbul under a Hrant Dink Foundation program. Rubinyan responded that he never met, or became friendly, with any Turkish officials.

Rubinyan, in the Q&A session following his election, was also asked to comment on statements made by Nikol Pashinyan during the June parliamentary election campaign predicting a new war with Azerbaijan this September if the ruling Civil Contract party failed to win a constitutional majority in the new legislature.

Although Civil Contract fell short of winning a constitutional majority, Rubinyan said  he’s convinced that a war is not expected.

Questions were also raised about Armenian-Turkish relations. Armenia alliance MPS asked what stage Armenia-Turkey negotiations are at today and why the border  with Turkey was still closed. Rubinyan responded that the Gyumri-Kars railway is being reconstructed, that Turkey and Armenia have signed a MOU to jointly restore the historic medieval Ani Bridge, and that direct trade is with Turkey is possible.

As to who will replace him as Armenia’s special envoy to Turkey, Nikol Pashinyan recently said that no decision has yet been made. Pashinyan said his administration must first decide how to proceed in its communications with Turkey. He noted that discussions are ongoing on the matter.