Local government elections as a litmus test of Armenia`s electoral crisis

ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has been portraying himself as a "defender of the oppressed" facing pressure during local government elections since yesterday evening, after several lengthy posts on his social media accounts on this topic, dropped his mask of virtue and began threatening a family member of an opposition candidate with dismissal.

First, in a post made on his social media accounts late in the evening of October 19, the Armenian Prime Minister invited all citizens and candidates who had fallen victim to illegal pressure to write to him directly.

Then, in a tirade on this topic in the morning, he called on citizens to go to the polls and vote against the candidate from the ruling Civil Contract party who is causing pressure, and to simultaneously contact law enforcement agencies. Then, not content with this, he made another post shortly afterward, calling on everyone under illegal pressure to protest.

But the Armenian prime minister wasn't done yet. In his latest post, Pashinyan lashed out with a threat against the wife of Dashnaktsakan candidate Gerasim Vardanyan, who is running for head of the Artashat community in the Ararat region.

"The wife of the ARF candidate for head of the Artashat community has been working at the Unified Social Service as a senior specialist since March 2022. And this candidate, his party members, and supporters accuse us of firing people because of their political views." By the way, this candidate is a defendant in two criminal cases.

Furthermore, the inclusion of such people in the state system provides numerous grounds to believe that we are secretly in contact with Rob, Serzh, the Dashnaks, and Kaluga (this is how the Armenian Prime Minister addresses Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan; third president, Serzh Sargsyan; and the leader of the "Strong Armenia" bloc, Samvel Karapetyan).

Many say that we have carried out a revolution, and the Dashnaks and Republicans are still in power. What should I do now, fire these people or keep them?" Pashinyan wrote. He did so despite lacking the authority to intervene in the formation of local government bodies. He then began sharing sarcastic posts regarding the pressure on citizens with opposition views. And then he began sharing sarcastic posts about pressure on citizens with opposition views.

It's worth noting that this fall, several dozen communities in the Republics will hold local government elections. Both independent observers and opposition figures are reporting unprecedented pressure being exerted on the opposition by the authorities. Due to this pressure, in many communities, only one candidate from the ruling party is participating in the elections.