Ex-president Robert Kocharian: Struggle for power will continue

Following the announcement of the preliminary election results, the Hayastan bloc, led by ex-President Robert Kocharian stated that the election results appeared to be controversial. At a press conference for local and foreign journalists, Robert Kocharian stated that the actions of the authorities will lead to new early elections, and the Hayastan bloc will continue its struggle for power and the post of prime minister.

According to preliminary data from the Central Election Commission, the new parliament will consist of the Civil Contract party of the acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, ex-President Robert Kocharian’s Hayastan bloc, as well as I Have the Honor, in which includes the parties of former head of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan and former President Serzh Sargsyan.

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The struggle for power will continue

Robert Kocharian stated that the struggle for power will end only if the current government resigns:

“For what other purpose are we entering parliament? Do you think that we are going to parliament for the sake of some mandates? […] If the current government leaves, a nationally oriented government is established in the country, then I will consider myself a free man and think about ending the political struggle. Until this moment, we will fight to take responsibility for the country upon ourselves ”.

At the same time, the ex-president stressed that he does not see himself personally in parliament:

“I am more of a person of the executive branch than of the legislative branch. Therefore, I do not see myself in the National Assembly, however, I haven’t made the final decision yet”.

The ex-president also commented on the crowded rally of Nikol Pashinyan on the Republic Square on the day after the elections. After the event, he got the impression that nothing will change in the actions of the current government:

“If the authorities continue to act as they did before, intimidating others with repression and vendettas, we will very soon face new early elections. This will continue permanently until they understand that it is simply impossible to conduct domestic policy this way”.

In 2018, when the Velvet Revolution took place, the authorities received a very high credit of trust and could lead the country in the right direction, the former president said:

“But they took the path of vendettas, settling personal scores. It ended with the loss of Karabakh, an economic and internal political crisis ”.

Electoral violations

The pre-election headquarters of the Hayastan bloc are collecting materials on violations to appeal to the Constitutional Court, Kocharian said. According to him, the results were unexpected for them, as the polls showed a different picture:

“We assume that there were massive violations, we saw an obvious use of administrative resources, and therefore we will turn to the Constitutional Court”.

The mandate that these authorities received is not a mandate of trust, the ex-president is sure:

“We will continue our struggle. The parliamentary struggle will intensify our street struggle. We have active supporters, extensive experience in street fighting. These elections changed the political landscape. Our entry into the parliamentary struggle has become somewhat of a tsunami. We will maintain this pace and momentum. We have potential in every way”.

Will Kocharyan shake Pashinyan’s ‘hand of reconciliation?

Speaking at the headquarters of the Civil Contract party on the night of the vote count, Nikol Pashinyan said that he was ready to start negotiations with political forces “that are inclined to dialogue.”

Robert Kocharian doesn’t believe in it:

“Have you noticed him extending a ‘hand of reconciliation? I did not. These authorities lied so much that it is simply impossible to believe them. The authorities, who lied for 44 days [duration of the second Karabakh war in the fall of 2020], declare something, and then one of them says the opposite.

I can’t believe it, especially when the well-known doctor Armen Charchyan is wanted to be arrested on absurd charges [he demanded that the staff of the clinic, which he runs, go to the polls and is now accused of pressuring voters]. The persons who are responsible for the death of 5,000 people [hose killed during the second Karabakh war] are trying to arrest the doctor who saved thousands of lives. This is the real face of the authorities”.

The ex-president is convinced that the authorities will start a new series of vendettas, but the political struggle of the bloc, which he led during the elections, will fight within the framework of the law:

“We did not take people to the streets immediately after the elections. We believe that the whole process should be legal”.