Yerevan, Armenia (AP) — Armenian leaders face tough challenges in polls after Armenian troops suffered a humiliating defeat in the fight against Azerbaijan over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh last year. ..
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called for an early election on Sunday and sought to ease public anger at the peace agreement signed in November.
A Moscow-mediated agreement ended a six-week battle between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, but Azerbaijani gained control over Nagorno-Karabakh and much of the surrounding area held by Armenian troops for more than a quarter of a century. I got it back.
The deal was celebrated as a major victory in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, but thousands of Armenians appeared on the streets of Yerevan and accused it of betrayal of national interests.
Richard Giragosian, director of the Yerevan-based Area Studies Center, said: I told the Associated Press. “The attack by Azerbaijan with the support of the Turkish army redefined the political situation in Armenia.”
Nagorno-Karabakh is located in Azerbaijan, but has supported the government of Yerevan since the end of the separatist war between the two neighboring Caucasus Mountains in 1994, leaving the region and its substantial surroundings in the hands of Armenia. It was under the control of the Armenian National Army.
A hostile act broke out in late September 2020, and Azerbaijani troops pushed deep into Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding area in a six-week battle, involving heavy artillery and drones that killed more than 6,000 people.
Pashinyan, who came to power after leading a large-scale street protest that expelled his predecessor in 2018, took the deal as a painful but necessary move to prevent Azerbaijan from taking control of the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region. Defended.
He resigned as prime minister as required by law to vote early, but remains responsible on behalf of the prime minister.
In Sunday’s elections, more than 2,000 polling stations have been opened across Armenia, with nearly 2.6 million people eligible to vote. The ballot contains 21 political parties and 4 constituencies, but 2 are considered the main candidates. The ruling Citizens’ Contract Party, led by Pashinyan, and the Armenian Alliance, led by former President Roberto Kocharyan.
Both used strict rhetoric during the campaign. Kocharyan proposes a duel with Pashinyan “with all kinds of weapons” instead of debate, Pashinyan wields a hammer at the rally, promises “political revenge” and purge of staff, and officials who support the opposition. I called it a “rusty nail”.
Recent media reports have cited polls showing Pashinyan’s party and Kocharyan’s neck and neck block, and whether either can get 54% of the parliamentary seats needed to form a government. Is unknown.
Pashinyan, a 46-year-old former journalist, seems to continue to enjoy widespread support despite a humiliating defeat at Nagorno-Karabakh and demonstrations demanding his resignation. When opposition protests swelled in Yerevan, he drew thousands of people into the streets and gained support.
At the final election rally on Thursday, Pashinyan told Yerevan supporters that he had visited “every corner” of Armenia and spoke with “tens of thousands of people.”
“After eight months of hell, exhausted, threatened, cursed and insulted, we participated in this election race, and the Armenian people welcomed us. Relatives returning from prisoners. “We welcome you,” Pashinyan told a crowd of about 20,000.
Kocharyan, from Nagorno-Karabakh, who served as president from 1998 to 2008, fulfilled his promise to strengthen the country’s unwavering security, promote economic growth and reconcile societies divided by war and political tensions. did.
“We have to overcome the loser complex,” Kocharyan said at a campaign rally. “We reject the crisis, reject the hatred, reject the kneeling life!”
Alexander Iskandarian, founder of the Yerevan-based Caucasus Institute, believes that those who vote for Kocharyan do not support him as much as he hates Pashinyan. “It’s not about Kocharyan lovers. Maybe there are some, but not many. The majority of people who vote for Kocharyan are those who hate Pashinyan,” Iskandarian told AP.
Meanwhile, voters remain polarized.
Some continue to support Pashinyan and believe it’s time to leave a bitter defeat behind.
“The back of our country is broken, but we are strong. We have already seen three wars, but life continues and we always praise the dead.” Neri Carapetian, a supporter of Pashinyan in the city of Sisian, said.
Others say Kocharyan needs to win for Armenia to succeed. “We want Armenia to grow stronger … and all the prisoners of war to come back. We want Kocharyan to be elected and Armenia to prosper.”
“We came (to the rally) to free our hometown from the losers (Pashinyan),” added Nalek Marcosian, who also attended the rally. “He can’t stay, a period. Just a period. He can’t stay in our homeland.”
And some cannot survive the war with Azerbaijan.
“We will vote for those who silence Aliyev (President Ilham of Azerbaijan),” said 65-year-old Anahit Alekian from the village of Schrunck in southern Armenia.
Her village was split in two by a newly defined border with Azerbaijan, and she lost her home in a peace agreement.
“I come here every day to collect time and see (my house) and cry,” she lamented.
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Contributed by Moscow Associated Press writer Daria Litvinova.