National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan expressed confidence that Armenia could have a more effective opposition if former Presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan do not participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“It would be a far more interesting campaign and competition if these unelected former presidents, who, for me, have never truly been legitimate due to unconvincing election results, don’t take part,” he told reporters in parliament, as quoted by Armenpress.
“In that case, we might have a much better opposition in Armenia than we do now. But they won’t step aside, because they’ll try to maintain a presence in parliament through the monopoly networks of former officials, businesses, and feudal-style elites,” Simonyan stated.
His comments came in response to recent remarks by Arman Tatoyan, head of the political movement Wings of Unity. Simonyan said he partly agrees with Tatoyan’s assessment.
He also reaffirmed that elections in Armenia are conducted freely.
Tatoyan had argued that if Kocharyan and Sargsyan stayed out of the race, it would be possible to remove Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from power.
