Russian President Vladimir Putin's public rebuke of Nikol Pashinyan was taken seriously by the CP, and Pashinyan himself, after returning from the April 1st meeting in Moscow, made his rhetoric against political opponents and especially Samvel Karapetyan even tougher, even talking about Karapetyan becoming a "bum".
Let's remind that Putin warned and scolded Pashinyan that a person with a Russian passport in Armenia is in prison for trying to engage in politics. "It's your decision, we don't interfere.
But we would like them to be able to participate in that internal political work," adding that Moscow will always be guided by the interests of the Armenian people. Although Pashinyan answered Putin on the spot that according to our legislation, only those people who have an exclusively Armenian passport can participate in the RA elections, and those who have a Russian passport cannot be a candidate for either the deputy or the prime minister, nevertheless, his teammates continue to fight with the statements of Karapetyan's teammates, and yesterday CEC President Vahagn Hovakimyan was confronted in the parliament about why he does not take steps regarding the forces that are "misleading" the people.
Hovakimyan went to the state legal commission, the CEC for 2024-2025. to submit the activity report. Lilit Minasyan, a member of the Communist Party, hiding behind the opposition forces, asked the CEC chairman what procedures are in place to reject the registration of parties.
Vahagn Hovakimyan, by the way, obviously did not want to give in to the provocations of his former teammates, according to some reports, the Russian Ambassador to Armenia Kopirkin, who visited him a few days ago, gave an additional warning to Vahagn Hovakimyan that they will not forgive political games, although Hovakimyan said about the ambassador's visit yesterday that it was an ordinary visit, he only came to familiarize himself with the preparations.
However, in response to Lilit Minasyan's question, Hovakimyan said: "Our Electoral Code is so liberal that the political force must deliberately not register the documents in order not to be registered, otherwise, if the documents are incomplete, the EC demands that we give the given political force up to 48 hours to correct the deficiencies."
Babken Tunyan, who is not a member of the State Legal Commission, even came to the discussion and was again interested in the activities of Karapetyan's team. First, he tried to understand how many people came from abroad to participate in the elections in 2021, but Hovakimyan dismissed him, saying that it should be verified by other bodies, then he complained that some oppositionists are misleading the people, deceiving that such and such a person will be the candidate for the prime minister, in the event that the person in question does not meet the constitutional requirements.
He demanded the head of the CEC to take steps against the forces that are misleading the people. Meanwhile, Vahagn Hovakimyan reminded that there is freedom of speech in Armenia, anyone can say what they want. "Politicians are free, they will announce what they want, our constitution clearly stipulates who can be a deputy and a member of the government, the rest - people are free to announce as they wish."
Former oppositionist Gegham Nazaryan also joined the CP group, who was clearly irritated by Vahagn Hovakimyan's toothless answers. The other participants of the session also noticed it. Arusyak Julhakyan, who chaired the session, made a speech on the spot and passed the new word to Nazaryan. "I felt that you were exploding, now you can express your outburst," he said.
Nazaryan had seven questions, all seven against the opposition. For the father of Abgar Nazaryan, who died in the 44-day war, it is puzzling why a citizen living outside of Armenia should decide how to live. There are reports that our compatriots from Russia intend to come and vote against Pashinyan.
Then he seconded Babken Tunyan and referring to Samvel Karapetyan and his team, asked if it is normal that they can deceive and say that after the elections, the prime minister should be the crocodile Genan. He continued the campaign against the opposition and asked what is the point of setting a deadline for the election campaign, when everyone has already started doing it a long time ago, "the strong guys, the active guys".
And, probably referring to Edgar Ghazaryan, who appeared in the list of "Strong Armenia", he was upset: why should the person who mocks the deputies be registered in the list? Perhaps Nazaryan suffers from amnesia and forgot that Nikol Pashinyan is the person who mocks politicians the most. Vahagn Hovakimyan did not live up to Nazaryan's expectations either. "If Gena the crocodile is a citizen of the Republic of Armenia, whose 25 years have passed, then he can."
Thus, despite the harsh warnings received from Russia, the ruling group continues to act in the same style, our sources say that Pashinyan is not giving up the Moldovan scenario in any way, but they have adopted other tactics and they will not do it by themselves, but will do it through their pocket NGOs.
The latter have already received an assignment to closely monitor the election campaign of the opposition parties and record cases of campaign violations, address complaints to the CEC and seek to suspend the registration of forces on that basis.
