What Solutions Are Proposed to Pull the Country Out of This Situation? What Are the Opposition and Government Options? Manukyan

Vazgen Manukyan, the candidate for Prime Minister from the "Homeland Salvation Movement," has issued a statement outlining his views on early elections and proposals for bringing the country out of its current predicament.

"Our country, having gone through disgraceful and disastrous capitulation, now stands on the brink of a new catastrophe—a deepening security, political, socio-economic, and systemic crisis," he wrote. In such conditions, what solutions are being proposed to pull the country out of this situation? What are the options for the opposition and the government?

Option 1: The Homeland Salvation Movement proposes to form a nationwide movement through protests and acts of civil disobedience, forcing the current government to step down. Through parliament, a new Prime Minister would be elected, who would not be from the ruling party, form a temporary government, stabilize the situation in the country, and organize fair parliamentary elections one year later without participating in those elections and stepping down from power.

Option 2: A significant part of the people desires the army to take power and form a temporary administration, with parliamentary elections occurring shortly afterward. Alternatively, this could happen through popular uprising. This option is considered dangerous on the grounds that the temporary authority formed through this path would be perceived as illegitimate by the outside world. I believe that the danger in this case is overstated, particularly since a temporary period is proposed, after which parliamentary elections will take place. The current situation cannot create a more dangerous condition. During this time, we would cooperate with our natural allies, and our enemies would be cautioned.

Option 3: A proposal by the authorities (setting aside the fact that this proposal is most likely a political game and an unfeasible option) is to hastily hold early parliamentary elections under Nikol Pashinyan (or formally appoint someone from his team as Prime Minister). "This option is the most dangerous and would deal a severe blow to Armenia, deeply entrenching the disgrace of capitulation. Conducting elections in the midst of chaos, division, and external threats is absurd and will not pull our country out of this situation but rather deepen it. The task is to halt the state's collapse, which requires the removal of the current government," insists the unified candidate for Prime Minister from the opposition.

He reminded that power in Armenia has always been perpetuated through elections. The opposition has never come to power through elections (even in the 2018 elections, when Nikol Pashinyan was already Prime Minister).

The "secret" of the government's perpetuation is very simple: government leverage, financial resources—both state and personal, and finally, the opportunity for power to falsify election results and maintain power through force. According to him, all the conditions for this have been present under the current authorities in the worst possible way. But an additional factor has emerged, which was not present before—external interference. Our struggle today is not only against this government but also against powerful external forces that control Armenia through it, which have a wide network of espionage in our country and a propaganda network that manipulates the public, which has already proven its effectiveness.

Manukyan notes that it is naive to think that opposition forces wishing to save the homeland will win through these elections. "It is no coincidence that we propose a one-year timeframe before the elections, during which we must first free our country from the espionage network and external influence, also forcing the Prime Minister of the temporary government not to participate in the elections organized during his tenure, to exclude the misuse of government leverage in the elections," he wrote.

According to Manukyan, the mere fact that the current government is conducting elections means legitimizing our losses and defeat. Therefore, what needs to be done? According to the unified candidate for Prime Minister from the opposition, the holding of early elections under this government must be prevented at all costs. And if, nevertheless, the government takes this step and announces elections, then this government should be removed before the start of the pre-electoral process.