Speaker of Parliament Alen Simonyan on Monday said that opposition forces running in the June 7 parliamentary elections are “hopeless” and suggested that they may fail to reach the minimum vote threshold required to win seats.

“It is obvious that the political parties considered to be the main opposition forces have a problem overcoming the minimum threshold,” Simonyan, a senior member of the ruling Civil Contract party, told reporters.

He said the Armenia Alliance, led by former president Robert Kocharyan, would “obviously” fail to secure enough votes. “They will obviously fail to overcome the electoral threshold. For them, it is impossible to garner one hundred thousand votes in Armenia, I am sure. That’s why Robert Kocharyan is ready to do anything—to say nice things, to flatter, to say he likes listening to Dua Lipa, to make insults—just to get a reaction,” he said.

Simonyan also criticized the Strong Armenia alliance, led by business tycoon Samvel Karapetyan, claiming they are unfamiliar with Armenian society.

“With regard to Strong Armenia, it is also obvious that the mysterious veil of a so-called new force was lifted in March. When the lights were turned on, everything became crystal clear: those people don’t even know Armenian spelling, they don’t know Armenian society, and have no idea what they are talking about. They are left with only one thing—to insult, provoke, display aggression, and try to understand how the government will respond,” Simonyan said.

The Speaker also questioned whether Gagik Tsarukyan’s Prosperous Armenia party would secure enough votes to enter parliament.

The electoral threshold for political parties is 4%, while alliances of up to three parties must pass an 8% threshold. Alliances consisting of three or more parties must pass a 10% threshold.

Nineteen political forces are running in the June 7 parliamentary election.