Gagik Tsarukyan promises debt relief, free services ahead of June elections

Armenian opposition leader Gagik Tsarukyan has pledged sweeping debt relief and free public services if his Prosperous Armenia Party wins the June 7 parliamentary elections, telling supporters in the town of Hrazdan that citizens burdened by fines, loans and economic hardship must be granted amnesty.

Speaking at a campaign rally in Kotayk Province on Monday, Tsarukyan said his party would push for the cancellation of penalties and loan repayments, while making education and healthcare free of charge. “There has been an economic crisis, a pandemic, a war – people must be forgiven,” he told the crowd. “The public is drowning in a swamp. Let them be granted amnesty with one decision.”

Tsarukyan criticized years of mismanagement and poor appointments in government. He argued that Armenia’s development required mobilizing all available resources, including expertise from the diaspora. “We have the desire, the connections, the opportunities and the specialists,” he said. “We will use every possibility for the country’s progress.”