Edmon Marukyan’s Bright Armenia announces bid for parliament in June 7 electio

Bright Armenia Party leader Edmon Marukyan announced on Tuesday that his party will run for parliament in the June 7 elections.

In a statement, former lawmaker and former Ambassador-at-Large Edmon Marukyan said his efforts to unite the entire opposition into a single force had not yielded results, and that each political force is running on its own. He said he had been trying to unite the opposition for the past six months.

“We acknowledge that it did not work out; each of us went our separate ways, and Karpis and I have decided to go our own way, with a single goal — to serve the Republic of Armenia,” Marukyan said, referring to Karpis Pashoyan, the journalist and podcaster with whom he co-hosts a weekly program.

Meanwhile, Pashoyan said he is temporarily stepping down as a political commentator and from his journalistic role, and will run for parliament under the Bright Armenia party list.

Pashoyan added that over the past six months they had done everything possible to consolidate the opposition and create a joint electoral list, but nothing had come of it.

“Our partners chose a different path, and we decided to go our own way. And what is our path? To participate in the elections with our own agenda, with our modest approach, but with big ideas — very big ideas,” Pashoyan wrote.