Ashotyan calls for 'national renewal' as Armenia's election campaign begins

Opposition politician Armen Ashotyan, deputy chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia, said the country may be facing its “last opportunity” to overcome political disillusionment and moral decline as Armenia’s election campaign officially launched on Friday.

In a social media post, Ashotyan argued that Armenia’s crisis cannot be resolved through politics alone and called for national self-reflection and renewal.

“To cleanse the country of Nikolism, we must first cleanse ourselves — of lies, deception and sin,” he said, referring to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his political team.

Ashotyan acknowledged deep divisions within Armenian society, saying Armenians had “deceived, misled and wronged one another”, but insisted the nation remained stronger than both the government and opposition often portrayed it to be.

He also reiterated his longstanding call for a “national confession and collective reckoning” following the 2020 war, arguing that only through unity and moral restoration could Armenia regain its strength.

“Now may be the final opportunity to free ourselves from the grip of falsehoods, mistakes and dishonor,” Ashotyan wrote. “Let us purify ourselves so that we may purify the country. Let us rise, so that they may go.”