Gagik Tsarukyan Will Not Sign Agreement with Nikol Pashinyan, Says Ishkhan Saghatelyan

The representative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), Ishkhan Saghatelyan, is confident that the President of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Gagik Tsarukyan, will not sign an agreement with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. He made this statement during a press conference today, assuring that the stance of the political forces that joined the Homeland Salvation Movement has not changed — Pashinyan must resign, and snap elections should be organized without his involvement. Otherwise, they will not be competitive or legitimate.

“The whole problem is that if Pashinyan wants to organize snap elections, he can do so easily; the two opposition factions in the National Assembly have nothing to do there. If he wants to organize snap elections, let him organize them, whatever 'Prosperous Armenia' and 'Bright Armenia' factions want. I believe that Tsarukyan should not sign an agreement with Pashinyan,” Saghatelyan stated.

According to Saghatelyan, the fact that “Prosperous Armenia” had already signed a similar agreement with Pashinyan in 2018 does not mean it can be repeated. At that time, he argued, Pashinyan did not have a parliamentary majority; today he does. Therefore, signing an agreement today, according to Saghatelyan, makes no sense.

“If Pashinyan wants to sign an agreement, let him go and sign it with his faction's deputies, because he does not trust them. Otherwise, why should the opposition commit to not nominating a candidate? Regardless of whether the opposition nominates a candidate or not, the political majority is his,” he said.