Chalabyan urges unity behind leading opposition force ahead of vote

Armenian opposition figure Avetik Chalabyan said on Friday that the opposition’s main challenge ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections was to mobilize anti-government voters and unite them behind a single leading force.

Speaking at the launch of the Strong Armenia party’s campaign outside the parliament in Yerevan, Chalabyan, co-founder of the HayaKve initiative which has teamed up with the party for the elections, accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government of using social benefits, pension increases and tax cuts introduced ahead of the vote to influence public sentiment.

He said such measures were no longer effective and argued that businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan had emerged as the opposition’s leading figure because voters were looking for “a new force and fresh energy” unconnected to either the current government or former ruling elites.

Chalabyan also said recent opinion polls showed growing support for opposition forces rather than a clear advantage for the ruling party.

“Our main objective is to bring opposition voters to the polls and convince them to support the leading opposition force,” he said.