Karapetian’s Strong Armenia party is expected to be one of the main opposition election contenders. The HAK openly courted it earlier this year, with Ter-Petrosian lavishing praise on the indicted tycoon and endorsing him for the June 7 polls. Strong Armenia formed instead an electoral alliance with two other, little-known opposition parties last week.

In a statement, the HAK said it has made “all necessary efforts” to become part of Karapetian’s bloc.

“We have demonstrated maximum flexibility, without setting any preconditions for the creation of the alliance,” it said. “For reasons beyond our control, that alliance did not materialize.”

“The Armenian National Congress, therefore, will participate in the elections separately, while at the same time being ready to cooperate with Strong Armenia and other opposition forces both during the election period and after the elections, in forming a coalition in parliament and saving the country from impending threats,” added the statement.

Strong Armenia representatives said last week that Karapetian’s political team is still open to teaming up with more opposition groups. But they made no mention of Ter-Petrosian’s party, which has not been represented in the Armenian parliament since 2017.

Ter-Petrosian, who had led Armenia to independence in 1991, is a vocal critic of Pashinian, having branded the latter as a “nation-destroying scourge” in the wake of Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. The 81-year-old ex-president has repeatedly denounced Pashinian’s attempts to depose Garegin II, the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Karapetian was arrested and indicted last June just hours after criticizing Pashinian’s campaign. He was moved to house arrest in late December.

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