Opposition MP says Pashinyan refuses to accept key election realities

Armenian opposition lawmaker Ishkhan Saghatelyan on Monday accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of refusing to acknowledge two key realities reflected in the results of the country’s June 7 parliamentary elections.

Speaking during a livestream on Facebook, Saghatelyan, a member of the opposition Hayastan (Armenia) alliance, said Pashinyan failed to secure support from more than half of voters despite unprecedented use of administrative resources, foreign backing and electoral violations.

“Despite unprecedented and extensive external support, state administrative resources and numerous violations, Nikol Pashinyan was unable to obtain 50% of the votes,” Saghatelyan stressed.

He also argued that opposition forces demonstrated significant public support despite government pressure.

“Despite unprecedented repression, violations, election fraud and physical and informational terror, the opposition — at least the forces that crossed the parliamentary threshold — managed to secure around 550,000 votes,” he said.

Saghatelyan accused Pashinyan of attempting to delegitimize the opposition by alleging that opposition votes were obtained through vote-buying and were therefore illegitimate.

Addressing the prime minister directly, Saghatelyan said that if there was an election falsifier in Armenia, it was Pashinyan and his political team. He argued that the government was seeking to avoid responsibility and shift blame onto others.

According to Saghatelyan, the government’s criticism of the opposition is aimed at undermining its legitimacy and justifying future actions against opposition politicians and supporters.

“The goal is to delegitimize the opposition so that any future pressure, violations or actions against opposition leaders can be presented as justified,” he said.