Armenia`s premier lashes out at opposition

ArmInfo.  At the plenary session of the National Assembly of Armenia on April 17, RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan lashed out at the opposition. According to him, the people must become masters of peace in the parliamentary elections, a process that is being thwarted by the three-headed opposition-the Strong Armenia, Prosperous Armenia, and Armenia bloc parties.  Essentially, as Pashinyan stated, all three political  forces are "former" parties whose names are on their electoral lists. 

The Prime Minister asserted that Strong Armenia is nothing more than  the Republican Party of Armenia, which changed its tactics before the  elections. Having withdrawn from the upcoming elections, the RPA  declared its support for the Strong Armenia party. Pashinyan believes  that the process of reshuffling the cards is practically underway,  like in a game of poker.

The Prime Minister emphasized that opposition MPs in the current  Armenian parliament register to receive their salaries. "For eight  years, they've been pointing to high bonuses, but they come, secretly  register, and leave to earn a few more kopecks. I recorded all this  and published it so they could come and participate in the  discussions. By participating in these discussions, we have once  again found ourselves in a "past- present" debate, and that's a fact.  Although I myself have repeatedly said that we must abandon this kind  of discussion," Pashinyan emphasized.

The Prime Minister noted that the 2026 parliamentary elections are  the last chance for the coalition formed during the years of Robert  Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan's rule. "It is now clear that there is  only one path and only one option to overcome this: for this to  happen, the Strong Armenia and Armenia alliance must fail to pass the  threshold and enter parliament in the 2026 parliamentary elections.  This is becoming an increasingly real political problem with each  passing day," the Prime Minister stated.