“Zhamanak” suggests that the so-called ‘rating’ ballots once introduced by the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) to ensure its landslide victory is boomeranging the former ruling party: “The HHK leadership can’t find candidates who would agree to participate and be nominated on so-called regional lists. HHK candidates who ran for parliament on regional lists in 2017 categorically refuse to be engaged again, as they realize that this time around they will show shameful results that will reveal their real approval rating.”
“Zhoghovurd” reflects on acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s most recent visit to Nagorno-Karabakh, his meetings with the local leadership and tour of a frontline unit: “It seems there is nothing extraordinary in this visit. Immediately after being elected prime minister in May Pashinian paid a visit to Stepanakert where he spoke about the need to return Nagorno-Karabakh to the negotiating table. He frequently visited Nagorno-Karabakh also later. But this latest visit followed the regional tour of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, a circumstance that is unlikely to be a coincidence. In this view, one can assume that Pashinian’s latest visit to Stepanakert is connected with the current state of the settlement process.”
Lragir.am, meanwhile, suggests that Pashinian’s visit to Nagorno-Karabakh may be connected with U.S. sanctions against Iran that were enforced this week. The online publication further considers scenarios of a possible military escalation in Iran, saying that such an escalation would cause refugees who will flee the country to a safer place. Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have quite a long border stretch with Iran, the author of the article notes, continuing: “The Armenian-Iranian border is controlled by Russian border troops. The [de-facto] Karabakh-Iran border is guarded by ethnic Armenian troops. Did Pashinian mean this possible development when he was saying that due to some geopolitical events the Armenian-Iranian border may be closed? It is not excluded that this is what Pashinian discussed with the leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
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