Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan again highlighted that Strong Armenia Party leader and business tycoon Samvel Karapetyan, under current constitutional requirements, cannot run either for parliament or for the premiership.

Constitutional requirements for a prime minister in Armenia include having resided in the country for at least the previous four years and holding exclusively Armenian citizenship during that period. Karapetyan is reported to hold dual citizenship and has been based mostly abroad.

Strong Armenia nonetheless named Karapetyan as their candidate for prime minister in the upcoming elections and said that, in the event of gaining a majority, they would initiate legislative changes to change the requirement and elect him.

Speaking at a press briefing, Pashinyan commented on the recently released Strong Armenia party list for the elections, where the business tycoon’s nephew Narek Karapetyan is listed as number one, while the party continues to claim that Samvel Karapetyan is their candidate for prime minister.

“The whole world knows that the person you mentioned cannot be a candidate for parliament or prime minister. If there is still anyone in Armenia for whom this is not yet clear, what can I say—I can only state the obvious,” Pashinyan said.