The Hayastan alliance formed by Kocharian, Dashnaktsutyun and another opposition party finished second in the last elections held in 2021. The 71-year-old ex-president has remained its top leaders since then.
“We aspire to expanding this alliance,” Ishkhan Saghatelian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader, told reporters, commenting on his pan-Armenian party’s participation in the polls due in June.
Saghatelian met the press following a congress of the Dashnaktsutyun chapter in Armenia that formally authorized its governing body headed by him to hold “active pre-election negotiations” with other opposition forces. He made clear that the party will first and foremost talk to its Hayastan allies. He said it is not clear whether their new bloc will be led by Kocharian.
The ex-president, who had ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, indicated last month his intention to run in the forthcoming elections with a reshuffled political team. He said there is still no “final decision on the format” of his participation in the showdown vote.
In a statement publicized on Tuesday, the Dashnaktsutyun congress said defeating Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his Civil Contract party will be critical for Armenia’s future.
“The ruling regime’s anti-national and anti-state policies have called into question the future of Armenia's statehood and the country's territorial integrity,” it charged in reference to Pashinian’s unilateral concessions to Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Pashinian again expressed confidence in October that Civil Contract will win the 2026 elections thanks to his “peace agenda.” Opposition leaders and pundits critical of the Armenian government claim that he is actually afraid of losing power. They point to recent months’ arrests of dozens of government critics as well as election-related assistance requested by Yerevan from the European Union.
Pashinian’s administration said last month that it wants the EU to help it “counter potential hybrid threats” to the proper conduct of elections. Opposition leaders, including Saghatelian, insisted, however, that Pashinian is trying to secure the EU’s support for winning the vote through fraud or foul play. They fear, in particular, that the authorities will disqualify some major opposition groups from the race.