Armenian ex-president to lead bloc of two opposition parties in June elections
Ex-President of Armenia Robert Kocharian has officially founded and headed the new political alliance ‘Hayastan’ (Armenia).
It includes two parties: the Dashnaktsutyun and the recently created Reviving Armenia party. The signing of the declaration on the creation of the new bloc took place on May 9.
The Hayastan bloc will participate in the upcoming early parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for June 20.
During the ceremony, Robert Kocharian stated that he is the one who can lead Armenia out of the crisis and ensure stable development, as he has “great experience and good knowledge.”
Kocharian also presented a roadmap that he intends to implement if his bloc wins the elections.
Then the ex-president, with the leaders of the parties that entered the alliance, walked to Freedom Square in Yerevan. Here they were already awaited by thousands of supporters who watched the signing of the document and Kocharyan’s speech with the help of a screen installed on the square.
On the square, the ex-president again made a keynote speech and announced how he intends to revive Armenia, which is now in a deep political and economic crisis.
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Why did Kocharyan decide to return to politics?
Kocharian stated that he did not intend to return to politics, but the country was in such a state that he “had no choice left.” According to him, the country is facing serious challenges, and the most serious of them is the threat to security:
“We will become a loser people with this power. There are administrative and economic crises in the country. A crisis of identity is also evident in the country, and we need strength and people who have enough experience to overcome such challenges. “
Why exactly he?
The ex-president believes he has extensive experience in crisis management:
“There is an identity crisis in Armenia, and we need forces and people who have sufficient experience in confronting such challenges. Why me? I have rich experience in crisis management, overcoming the economic crisis, I have enough knowledge in the field of security and defense. “
About partners
Kocharian described the ARF Dashnaktsutyun as a party that is fighting around the world to preserve the Armenian identity. And, as the ex-president noted, he has experience of cooperation with this political force.
As the ex-president noted, the creation of the Reviving Armenia party is caused by concern for the fate of the southern region of Armenia – Syunik region.
After the end of the second Karabakh war in the fall of 2020, many villages in Syunik became borderlands, as in the days of the USSR, since the territories adjacent to Nagorno-Karabakh came under the control of Azerbaijan. Some villages were completely divided into two parts – Armenian and Azerbaijani. Some sections of the highway connecting the region with Yerevan are officially declared Azerbaijani territory, and the posts of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces are located here.
The head of the party is the former governor of Syunik region Vahe Hakobyan, in its board and the current heads of the administrative units of the region are the mayors of Goris, Sisian, Kajaran, the heads of Meghri and Tech communities.
“Syunik today is the epicenter of threats for Armenia, it depends on Syunik whether we will remain as an acting actor in the region or become a“ trailer ”in the region. The threats here are serious. I think that Syunik today is a symbol of our struggle, ”Robert Kocharian stated.
Road map
The ex-president has already presented the priorities for his activities, the points that he is going to implement if his bloc wins the elections:
- assess the amount of damage caused to the country by areas, as this is important for planning further steps,
- stop the economic downturn,
- restore the credibility and predictability of the country, return the name of a reliable partner to it,
- reconsider the attitude towards business, work together for the development of small and medium-sized businesses,
- create a knowledge-based economy and develop agriculture,
- to fight for the purification of the public sector not with slogans, but with concrete steps.
