Two months after announcing his return to active politics, former President Robert Kocharian has ruled out his participation in early general elections that will likely be held in Armenia in December.
“First of all, the legitimacy of this process is very dubious for me, and secondly, I just don’t have time [to prepare for the elections,]” Kocharian told the Russian RIA Novosti news agency in an interview published on Thursday.
“Besides, I have had no party affiliation. This means that I have to create a party from scratch, rather than restore something that has existed before,” he said, adding that he needs time to cobble together a team of “talented, young and energetic people.”
Kocharian also complained that most Armenians are now too euphoric about last spring’s “velvet revolution” to make rational choices. “People are not ready to discuss programs, to get to the bottom of economics or social policy,” he said. “This is why the elections will have a superficial character. The dominant theme will be defense of the revolution.”
Kocharian admitted Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his allies will likely score a landslide victory in the polls. “Opinion polls show that the country is now heading for the formation of yet another political monopoly,” he said. “And this is what generated and what was targeted by the ‘velvet revolution’ in Armenia in the first place.”
Kocharian himself was accused by critics of systematically stifling dissent, tolerating government corruption and rigging elections when he ran the country from 1998-2008.He handed over power to his longtime ally, Serzh Sarkisian, following a disputed presidential election that sparked anti-government protests in Yerevan.
Kocharian ordered security forces to quell those protests on March 1-2, 2008. Eight protesters and two police servicemen were killed as a result.
Law-enforcement authorities launched criminal proceedings against Kocharian shortly after Pashinian swept to power in May. The ex-president was arrested in late July on charges of illegally using the armed forces against protesters and overthrowing the constitutional order.
Armenia’s Court of Appeals freed him from custody on August 13, saying that the constitution guarantees his immunity from prosecution.
Kocharian announced his political comeback three days later. He accused Pashinian’s government of endangering the country’s national security, undermining its relations with Russia and lacking economic programs.
Pashinian, who played a key role in the 2008 protests, vehemently defended the ongoing criminal investigation at a rally held on August 17. “All murderers will go to prison,” he said.
Speaking to RIA Novosti, Kocharian again claimed that the new authorities are waging a political “vendetta” against him. He predicted that he will face more accusations soon.
“The most curious thing is that I wasn’t in government for ten years,” said the 64-year-old. “I don’t quite understand what they want from me. I clearly wasn’t the target of that revolution. There was a totally different [Sarkisian-led] government with which I practically did not communicate and which I criticized. But all of a sudden I became an object of scrutiny.”
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