Run, Forrest (?), Run: Vahagn Aleksanyan Accuses Sophia Hovsepyan of Rat Running

Vahagn Aleksanyan, the coordinator of public relations for the My Step alliance, wrote on his Facebook page: “Run, Forrest (?), run. Sophia Hovsepyan left My Step, became an independent MP, and even remembered to apologize to her voters for not discussing this decision with them, but also expressed hope that they would understand her.

“No, of course, I am glad about Ms. Hovsepyan’s optimism, but she should kindly ask herself, exclusively herself, the question in front of the mirror or perhaps in front of her campaign poster: if there was no My Step alliance, if there was no Nikol Pashinyan, how many voters would she have had? Ten? Eleven? Perhaps a hundred? Well, let’s settle on a hundred, but what about the rest? The rest of the voters marked next to Sophia Hovsepyan’s name on the ballot only on the condition that they were marking on a ballot that stated: MY STEP, 1. Nikol Pashinyan. If it weren't for the reverse side of that ballot, there would be no phenomenon of Sophia Hovsepyan as an MP in the world.

“Therefore, allow me to be as straightforward and honest as possible and call this phenomenon by its true name, which is: RAT RUNNING—THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.”

Later, Aleksanyan made another post: “And if Sophia Hovsepyan ever says that she was elected by the proportional electoral system and that this gives her the moral right to leave the faction to which people gave their primary votes, try to explain in plain Armenian (there will be difficulties, but don’t be discouraged) that if ‘Nikol’s backpack’ had been written on the same ballot, she would definitely have occupied one horizontal position lower. This is about the relationship of citizen trust and the proportions of Sophia Hovsepyan-My Step.”

It should be noted that in the last two months, the My Step faction has lost 5 MPs: Takhouhi Tovmasyan, Vardan Atabekyan, Gor Gevorgyan, Anna Grigoryan, and Sophia Hovsepyan.