Armenian citizens no longer fear the current government; they want  change - Samvel Karapetyan

ArmInfo. Armenian citizens, both in Yerevan and in the regions, no longer fear the current government; they want change. This was stated by Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the "Strong Armenia" bloc, at a press conference in Yerevan on May 22, when asked what their political force intends to do in the face of the authorities' intimidation of Armenian citizens and the detention  of their supporters ahead of the June parliamentary elections.

According to Karapetyan, the only way is a fearless approach. He  noted that despite the detention of a dozen supporters of their  political force, they are not backing down. "On the contrary, we are  militant and moving forward. This is the only way to resist this. We  see success in this regard. Because when we first began our struggle,  about 40% of respondents (citizens - ed.) refused to answer  questions. Today, this figure is around 18%. And this is despite the  fact that we began our struggle alone. We will continue to work in  this direction. Let them detain as many as they want. As I already  said, one will become a thousand. People no longer fear them; in  fact, they are repulsive to them. The citizens of Armenia want  change, and we will ensure it. For the first time, we will achieve a  victory for the opposition over the government; we are confident of  this. Both in the regions and in Yerevan, we see that no one fears  the current government. This fear is diminishing every day.  Therefore, we say that we will overcome this fear and change will  come," explained the leader of the "Strong Armenia" bloc.

Karapetyan also addressed concerns that the new government could  ultimately lead to further upheaval. In this regard, he stated that,  in his opinion, it is precisely a weak leadership that deceives its  citizens that is bringing upheaval to the country. "We are not  deceiving our people. We discuss all issues openly. I have already  said that on June 8th, we will have a new Armenia-it will be the  safest country, with a developed army," the bloc's leader stated. In  this regard, Karapetyan reported that they have a program that they  have not yet discussed, but within the framework of which they intend  to reduce the length of military service to one year by developing  the army and rearming it with new equipment. "We will achieve this  goal within just one year. The authorities are trying to convince us  that we intend to increase this term, but in reality, we will do the  opposite. And this term will be reduced due to the presence of a  strong army," Karapetyan assured. It should be noted that in the  run-up to the parliamentary elections in Armenia, scheduled for June  7, 2026, Armenian law enforcement officials are detaining supporters  of the main opposition party on charges of offering and receiving  electoral bribery. Reacting to these arrests, the Strong Armenia  party claims that this is yet another attempt to interfere in the  electoral process by creating an unequal playing field, intimidating  party members, and hindering their activities.