Politician: Kocharyan`s 2026 candidacy to secure another victory for  Pashinyan

ArmInfo. The participation of Robert Kocharyan, the leader of the "Armenia" bloc and Armenia's second president,  in the 2026 parliamentary elections will mean a conscious replication of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's power.  Samvel Farmanyan, former Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP and politician, stated this in an interview with Factor.

The politician is convinced that the people of Armenia are currently  concerned with one question: how to remove Pashinyan from power. In  this regard, he urged people to ask whether Robert Kocharyan's  participation contributes to this goal or, on the contrary, leads to  the opposite result, namely, the replication of Pashinyan's power.  "It's important to understand that the majority of Armenian society  has a negative attitude toward Armenia's second president. This is  confirmed by both sociological surveys and conversations with people.  Let's understand that citizens are guided by two motives in  elections: either they like a certain politician and vote for them,  or they don't want to see someone in power and choose the alternative  they have to rule out the possibility of an undesirable candidate  coming to power," the politician clarified.

Farmanyan believes a similar situation occurred in 2018, when  Armenian society rejected the Republican Party of Armenia, in  particular, then-President and later Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.  He also clarified that the Armenian people have a similar attitude  toward all three former presidents of Armenia. "The same thing  happened in 2021, when society, seemingly disillusioned after the  44-day war of 2020, nevertheless, not wanting to see Kocharyan in  power, elected Pashinyan again (recall that third president Serzh  Sargsyan's "With Honor" bloc also participated in the 2021 elections  - ed.). That is, thanks to Kocharyan's negative ratings, Pashinyan  legitimately reasserted his power. And from 2021 to 2026, Kocharyan,  effectively became Pashinyan's "sparring partner" in parliament,  allowing him to "revive" his ratings after the war. And essentially,  today there is a threat that we will step into the same river for a  third time," the politician believes.

According to Farmanyan,  the only formula for a change of power in  the country is the consolidation of the opposition into a united  front in the current situation. "Pashinyan will only be able to renew  his power if the people of Armenia see a real alternative to the  Prime Minister in someone  they don't hate. And we must provide such  an alternative. If the opposition unites into a united front and  simultaneously launches a rational street struggle, then it will be  possible to remove Pashinyan from power even before the elections.   In the current situation, when the future of the country is at stake,  blessed is he who can put his ambitions aside," the politician  concluded.

Recall, Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan, and the  Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF), along with the "Forward"  political force, will participate in the upcoming June 7  parliamentary elections as part of the "Armenia" bloc. The bloc's  candidate for Prime Minister of Armenia will be the first president  of Artsakh, Armenia's second president, Robert Kocharyan. On April 1,  Serzh Sargsyan's party, the Republican Party of Armenia, issued a  statement that it would not directly participate in the parliamentary  elections.