Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with the President of the Republic Vahagn Khachaturyan.
The RA Prime Minister's office informs that
the prime minister informed that he will be on vacation from May 8 in order to participate in the pre-election campaign.
"It will be interrupted only on May 28, so that I have certain duties on the day of the public holiday, I will fulfill those duties and maybe there will be some work issues on that occasion. But overall, I plan to be on the campaign trail. Today at the Government session, I also said that the most important task is that we ensure our state institutions, the expression of the free will of the citizens of Armenia and, of course, the free competition of political ideas and speech in the country.
That is the most important thing, so that the results of the elections express the will of the people, and of course, there should also be a fight against illegal influence on the elections and the will of the people, which is the function of our state institutions. Of course, in recent years, we have done everything to develop the capacities in the Republic of Armenia, so that it is possible to wage an effective struggle in this regard. I am sure that our institutions will be able to fulfill this function so that everything remains exclusively in the field of competition of political ideas and what to say.
And, of course, I also want to thank you again for supporting the reform process during this period. I think that it is the turn of the public to evaluate the process and results of the reforms, and the public should give an evaluation with its vote. And we will do everything during this time so that our people get the most complete information they need to make decisions, even though we have done our best in that direction so far," said Prime Minister Pashinyan.
President Khachaturyan thanked for the information and added:
"Of course, there is concern in all cases, the head of the government and some members of the government go on vacation to participate in pre-election campaigns, but that is our law. I was meeting with the new president of Latvia, I told him that our law provides for this, he was a little surprised, but our law provides for this and you are guided by the law.
In fact, I am sure that everything was done by you, by the Government, by the authorities, so that the elections were transparent, without any problems and the election results did not raise doubts, because the biggest test for us during these years has always been the election and bad events happened during the elections and post-elections.
After 2018, there was no doubt about all the elections, but I especially want to mention the year 2021, because it was extraordinary, and you took that step in order to gain the trust of the people, and the people trusted you. During these 5 years, the Government has done a tremendous job, and the successes that exist, which are recorded purely by economic numbers, are proof that these reforms have gone in the right direction.
There was a circumstance, I wanted to write a scientific article, I'm in the process of it, but I can't finish it. An important change has taken place, I have to ask you to pay special attention to it and say, maybe they will present it. A change in the distribution of public output has taken place in our state. If at one time the number of creators of this public result was very small, for example, 40 rich people, now that number has increased many times, by zeros, and as a result, people have started to live well and do business, and there is success in the economy. As a result of this, the inequality in our country has decreased.
I began to delve deeper, what is the reason, the explanation is very primitive, because laws work, laws are available. We use the word inclusive, the level of inclusiveness of our economic policy and the policy conducted in the country in general has increased and become available. When I look at our programs, the programs presented by the Government, this factor is very important in them, and the people's attitude is determined by it.
Approximately 50 thousand apartments are being built, more than 1 million square meters in the last two years. In the Soviet Union, when 700-800 thousand square meters were built, it was considered a great success. More than 1 million and not only the state participates in it, but people with the help of the state, and in the Soviet Union, the state was building.
And when we were talking about mortgage loans, 16 million programs, let's present this, people see this in their daily life, they see this opportunity. And I have confidence that in the future, the state's policy will be needed in order for its citizens to trust their country, their government, believe in their state.
And what you, your government is implementing as a policy, is aimed at that, so that we can respect our state. I repeat again, I have no doubt that the government will do everything to ensure that the elections are invulnerable, at a high level, and reliable. But I also want the parties participating in the election to behave in the same way, and also for all of us to understand that there is a law in the Republic of Armenia and no one is outside the law, and in both electoral and non-electoral processes, if violations occur, they should be punished.
It is only in this case that we will be successful, this is not our personal relationship, this is a state, and the law and the Constitution must work in the state. Now is an opportunity to present plans for another five-year future, let them present them, let the people evaluate them, and in that case there will be no doubt that someone made a mistake somewhere, someone abused or did not abuse.
I, of course, as well as you, are worried that they will try to do this, but the level of establishment of our state institutions, if we compare them with 2021 and now, they have become incomparably qualified, they are incomparably in control of the situation. We see it with our everyday eyes, of course, we still have many things to do, understanding that reform is constant, it is every day in our lives, if we do not learn and reform every day, one day it will turn out that we have remained the same, we have not changed anything.
I wish success to you as the head of the Government, to organize the elections successfully, and also to you as the leader of the political team in the electoral processes. I also wish success to all those parties that will actually move within the framework of the law. And I wish those successes because I am sure that democracy will win in the Republic of Armenia, and this will be the victory of our democracy."
