Pashinyan: Local government elections demonstrate a crisis within the opposition

ArmInfo. Local government elections have demonstrated a crisis within the opposition. This was stated by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on October 28 during government hour in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, responding to a question from Edgar Arakelyan, a member of parliament from the ruling Civil Contract faction.

The member of parliament, in particular, pointed to problems within the opposition, where the forces present are practically failing to implement a state-sponsored approach.

According to Pashinyan, this raises the question of what the government should do about this issue. Essentially, the prime minister continued, the executive body can do nothing other than state the problem. The head of government even advocated for public political discussions on this topic, so that the issue would be placed on the political agenda and receive an appropriate response from some segments of Armenian society. "In reality, this is a complex issue. We raised this issue earlier, even while in opposition. It was then that we chose a new approach, which led to the non-violent velvet revolution of 2018," Pashinyan said. Regarding assessments of the current opposition, he said that this stage will also come. The Prime Minister recalled that an investigative commission on the crisis in the Armenian Apostolic Church has been formed in parliament, and its work should yield some results. We should also not forget about the ongoing investigations, with the hope of bringing criminal cases related to election bribery to their logical conclusion. Following the confiscation of illegally acquired property, it will also be possible to speak of certain results, which will allow for a summary of all data related to the opposition and an assessment of them.

Overall, as the head of government noted, the development of a political system is of great importance for the state. "I am deeply convinced that this system has not yet been formed due to the conflict, but more time is needed to assess the true situation," Nikol Pashinyan said.