Nikol Pashinyan's Latest Service: '168 Hours'

‘168 Hours’ newspaper writes: ‘Nikol Pashinyan has made the hammer the main symbol of his electoral campaign, which, as he admits, he intends to use for pulling out “rusty nails” that are, in his view, non-compliant mayors, civil servants, judges, scientists, intellectuals, and clerics—in short, everyone.

There is no shortage of counterarguments either; opponents, displaying greater imagination, present various scenarios where the use of the hammer will backfire on Nikol Pashinyan like a boomerang.

The hammer, in short, has taken on a key role in this election.

Nikol Pashinyan may not be aware, or perhaps he has been spared and not informed, that a hammer, aside from striking nails or pulling them out, also has other applications and is used, including in medicine. Psychologists and psychiatrists use hammer strikes to determine patients' reflex responses for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Our society, broadly speaking, is currently in the status of such a patient, as its psychology has been distorted to an impossible degree over the past three years. In general, the issue of mental health in contemporary Armenia has not been expressed as deeply and sharply as during Nikol Pashinyan’s three years of misgovernance.

This means that our society also has an urgent need for mental recovery. In this regard, Nikol Pashinyan, who is wandering around Armenia with a hammer in hand, might be providing the greatest, and possibly the last, service to society.

Every statement he makes with the hammer raised holds the same significance for people as a psychiatrist striking a hammer on a patient’s knee.

Nikol Pashinyan awakens the reflexes of society every day with invisible blows of the hammer, which, although not guaranteed, nevertheless instills hope for recovery.

The elections on June 20 will clarify what impact Pashinyan’s hammer blows have had on a morally devastated society over the three years. Depending on the election results, society and the state may receive a long-term ticket for recovery or be subjected to the diagnosis of “the patient is incurable.”

In the first case, the hammer could be used as material evidence for a corresponding criminal case; in the second case, for the purposes for which it surfaced in Nikol Pashinyan's hands.

Society can either accept the proposed status of “the head of a nail” or bestow on the hammer one of its many meanings, including a health-related one,’ the newspaper writes.