These elections were really very important for the preservation of the Republic of Armenia as a national state.

In my opinion, Nikol Pashinyan resorted to many falsifications, pressures, used undisguised administrative resources, not to mention the support of geopolitical centers, and as a result, he did not lose, although he himself saw that he had serious problems with legitimacy. This person does not have a majority vote, especially with a high turnout. Even if we remove about 500 votes of the forces that obviously support him, it turns out that he is not able to get the majority vote in the atmosphere of actual fear and threat. The purpose of Nikol Pashinyan’s hatred, threats, disgusting words, immoral wording throughout his campaign was, on the one hand, to mobilize his electorate (which is around 20-25%) and on the other hand, to create a feeling of disgust for elections and politics among the majority of citizens, which would keep them away from the processes.

Nevertheless, the active public consolidation on the issue of participation confused Pashinyan’s plans, he realized by the end of the election day that the number of mandates between him and the opposition could be very close, so the process of bringing in soldiers started in the last hours, but not only.

Anyway, I want to say that long live all those people who went to the elections, they are not visible today, but they opened the way to remove Pashinyan, they showed the possibility of change. Pashinyan himself saw that the number of those who did not accept him, that is, the votes of the collective opposition, was much more, so he was rejected by the majority of voters. The fact that the existing system is designed for the rejected is another topic of conversation.

Now about the opposition. I am not a voter of the opposition that entered the parliament, I did not vote for them, I am not their ideological supporter, so it is dishonest for me to express an opinion whether it is worth taking a mandate or not. Let their voters say that. I have something else to say to the force I voted for. In fact, Arman Tatoyan, Hayk Marutyan, and to some extent, “I’m against everyone” sent very similar messages to the public, I personally know families where one voted for Tatoyan, another for Marutyan, and the third for BD.
Dear friends, you received 75,225 votes together, this is not a small number, if you had presented a united front, you would be in the parliament now, and many voters like me would have MPs expressing their vote. For example, the stated goals of “I’m against everyone” were reflected in Tatoyan’s program. Tatoyan also had Hayk Marutyan’s rejection of the false dilemma of Baku or Moscow. In other words, you, being very respected and understandable people from my side, could not sit at the same table and come to a compromise, while the policies and ideas you adopted have many like-minded people.

My public demand is from these forces, more specifically from Tatoyan, who gathered the most votes among them. try to ensure consolidation among those circles that are in favor of deepening relations with the West, not at the expense of confrontation with the Russian Federation, that are in favor of strengthening the army, that are not looking for masters abroad, but only supporters, that do not want to live under the dictates of Azerbaijan, that are intolerant of the fact that there may be an Armenian in prison in Baku, and many other issues. There is a place for that compromise and conversation, because it was not done before the elections, it should be done after the elections, because the extra-parliamentary opposition will play a very important role in the upcoming processes, and in the near future, Aliyev will continue to use Pashinyan to the maximum against the Armenian state and the Armenian people.

That fight continues, so it is necessary to learn from mistakes, accept them, correct them and move on. As Chief of Staff Vazgen Sargsyan would say: “You come and go, yours is to keep the heart of this country, the heart.” And the heart is kept by joint love and joint effort.

Azerbaijanologist Tatev Hayrapetyan

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