Arman Tatoyan, Armenia’s former human rights ombudsman leading a newly formed opposition group, claimed late last month that Kocharian and another ex-president, Serzh Sarkisian, will help Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian retain power if they enter the fray. He said Pashinian would again exploit their controversial track records to convince most voters to back the ruling Civil Contract party.
Kocharian hit back at Tatoyan and saw ulterior motives behind the latter’s calls when he met with supporters in Yerevan.
“The rhetoric about the former versus current [rulers of Armenia] has been one of Nikol Pashinian’s main weapons since 2018,” he said. “It has been a tool for dividing the society, spreading antagonisms within it. It’s obvious that this tool is much weaker now. According to all opinion polls, Pashinian now has the highest negative rating, and it’s an irreversible rating.”
“People think that they can thereby take away part of our votes,” Kocharian went on. “OK, suppose that you take away 2 percent of them and make it to the National Assembly. But [in that case] you will not have made an additional contribution to regime change, if that’s really your goal. I’m having doubts about whether [regime change] is really the goal.”
Kocharian’s Hayastan alliance comprising the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and another opposition party finished second in the last parliamentary elections held in 2021. The 71-year-old ex-president, who had ruled Armenia from 1998-2008, indicated last month that he will run in the 2026 elections with a reshuffled political team. He said on Saturday that there is still no “final decision on the format” of his participation in the vote.
For his part, Sarkisian, who is believed to have a smaller following, has still not clarified whether his Republican Party will also join the race. He has repeatedly indicated that he believes street protests and/or a parliamentary vote of no confidence are the best way to unseat Pashinian.