In the “Pressing” program Satik Seyranyan The guest is Tigran Torosyan, Doctor of Political Science, former Speaker of the RA National Assembly is.

The main theses of the interview are below.

• With these shameful elections, the Communist Party surpassed itself in the sense that such “dirty” elections have never been held in the post-Soviet region. the government crossed all permissible and impermissible boundaries. There are many violationsn:ers, the shameful use of law enforcement agencies, the violation of the law and the Constitution, to the leader of the main opposition political force, Samvel Karapetyan, detention for a long time, external interference in all directions, etc… Unfortunately, Pashinyan gives a hand to everyone in the outside world, because he does everything that is asked of him.

• Yesterday, the Central Election Commission (CEC) summarized the results of the elections, announcing that there will be no re-voting in the 3 polling stations where the results were canceled. And today, a lavash text is being circulated on behalf of Vahagn Hovakimyan, which allegedly justifies this… This is hypocrisy and a crime, because it is written in black and white in the “Electoral Code”., that if the annulment affected the results, there should be a re-vote. 

Let us present the relevant article of the RA “Electoral Code”. 

Article 101. Appointment of re-voting of the National Assembly elections, annulment of election results

1. If such violations of this Code occurred during the elections that could affect the results of the elections, the Central Electoral Commission shall make a decision to hold re-voting in individual election precincts, if it is possible to correct the consequences of these violations. If it is not possible to correct these violations, then the National Assembly elections are declared invalid and a re-voting of the National Assembly elections is scheduled.

2. If during the re-voting of the National Assembly elections or during the re-voting in separate electoral precincts, such violations of this Code occurred that could affect the results of the elections, the Central Electoral Commission makes a decision to declare the National Assembly elections invalid and appoints a re-voting of the National Assembly elections.

3. If the Central Electoral Commission makes a decision to hold a re-voting in separate electoral precincts, then the re-voting is held on the 7th day after the adoption of that decision. In this case, the time limits defined by this Code for summarizing the results of the National Assembly elections are calculated from the day of re-voting.

4. No earlier than 15, and no later than 30 days after the decision on invalidating the election of the National Assembly comes into force, a re-voting shall be held in accordance with the procedure established by this Code and with the same composition of parties.

5. If the results of the re-voting of the National Assembly elections are declared invalid, a new regular election shall be held not later than 70 days after the entry into force of that decision. In case of a new regular election, the President of the Republic adopts the decree on setting the voting day on the 7th day after the adoption of the decision on invalidating the election of the National Assembly.

6. A new regular election is held with a new nomination and according to the procedure and time limits established for special elections.

• About 3,600 people voted in 3 polling stations. Isn’t it obvious that even if the voting results were repeated in those precincts in the same way, the PAP would pass to the Parliament? that opposition party had the minimum necessary 159 votes.

• There has been a violation in the distribution of mandates. In fact, if you cancel the vote, you are admitting that the military vote was interfered with in favor of the ruling party. But it is a fact that after the cancellation, only “Prosperous Armenia” suffers. that is, the mandates of the other parties neither increased nor decreased, and only the PAP was left out of the Parliament. In other words, the distribution of mandates took place illegally, and it is the result of elections. Therefore, there is nothing to guess, nothing to guess. The requirement of constitutional law is unequivocal:

• A crime has been committed by the authorities.

• Aren’t those 3,600 voters voters that their votes are being destroyed like that… Were the rights of those who voted for other forces not violated? Were not the rights of PAP voters violated? I am sure that day will come one day and those who are flagrantly violating one of the main laws of the land who today are committing a criminal offense by violating the balance of power in the main body politic of the country, will be criminally liable.

• When the elections are over, the process of preparing for the next elections begins the next day. Unfortunately, in Armenia, the next elections are being prepared 3-4 months in advance.

• The opposition part of this Parliament got a new opportunity. That’s his vote count, and that opportunity should be used. It is not necessary to enter into the agenda dictated by the CP, it is necessary to show the behavior of a mature political force. Mandates should not be given up. Giving up is the behavior of a weakling. After all, the people who voted for them voted for them to work:

• Those mandates of the opposition do not belong to any power, be it the government or anyone else, it has no right to take and give those mandates to someone else. Those mandates belong to the people, but we have already seen that this government is capable of anything, whatever you say, they can do… So we should take the mandates and do serious work in the Parliament. If there is mandate theft from the opposition forces in the Parliament, that’s it not only the given opposition political forces will be responsible, but also the people who elect them. Becoming a deputy is not only a right, but also a duty.

• In the CEC, there were requests to cancel the election results in general, but there was no request to hold a re-voting in three specific precincts. Of course, the “Electoral Code” already states that a re-voting should have been done, but I think there should also have been an application, and that would have made it possible to make the issue an agenda item. I am not saying that it would have 100% influence on the CEC decision, but first the society would know why it had to be done, besides, it could be an important argument in the Constitutional Court.

• Yesterday, a crime was committed in the CEC not only against the PAP, but also against the citizens and the state:

• I have always said that if we want fully functioning authorities to be formed in the country, we must heal the parties.

• It is necessary for the opposition to apply to the Constitutional Court. after all, the fight must be fought in all directions.

• If they don’t take the mandates and those places remain vacant, there is no problem for the government to commit another illegality and fill those places with their own and achieve their goals. And one of the goals of the authorities is at least obvious: changing the Constitution, Aliyev’s demand, which the CP cannot do in the case of this arrangement of forces.:

• As in the previous year, 2021-2026. During the 5 years of the Parliament, Pashinyan has no legitimate power.

• Those who do not go to the elections are the supporters of the opposition. After the previous elections, Nikol Pashinyan’s votes did not tend to increase in any way, but they did increase, even if it was small, by 4%. Obviously, this was done through an illegal mechanism.

• Influential states neither support nor appreciate CP. for them, today’s government is desirable because, contrary to its own national and state interest, it takes beneficial steps for those states. If we do not take a step, we should have nothing to expect from other states.

• In interstate relations, it is often the documents on the table that become the beginning of conversation, even when a new government has arrived and the content of those documents is not pleasing to it. Therefore, before the elections, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Armenia and hastily initialing bilateral documents was a disrespectful attitude towards the voters and citizens of Armenia. They could have waited and signed after the elections, but perhaps they also had fears about the re-election of this government. In those documents initialed between the USA and Armenia, the territorial integrity of Armenia is not respected, there is no mention of it. Those documents contain great dangers for Armenia:

• According to these arguments, the geological data of the territory of Armenia should be provided to the USA. it means that whatever America likes from here, it can take (as happened in Ukraine). In addition, the US has the right to conduct mapping in Armenia. Nowhere in those documents will you find any solution to any problem of Armenia. 

• One of the TRIPP documents states that the demarcation of Armenia should be done on the basis of Alma Ata’s declaration. This is hooliganism, because the borders of Armenia have nothing to do with the Alma Ata declaration, even more so, that declaration has nothing to do with this document. This was obviously done to please Azerbaijan: Not only does Armenia get nothing, but Armenia will be trampled on by both sides.

• These documents also violate the regional balance. We have seen what happened in Iran, no one can guarantee that the distant confrontation between the US and Israel will not be repeated even after the signing of an agreement is announced today, and the withdrawal of Russia from this region can be fraught with serious risks.

• For the implementation of the TRIPP project, not only the specific parts of Armenia are provided to the USA, but the land areas adjacent to them. In fact, for 49 years (with an obligation to review for another 50 years) everything is given to the US. No decisive factor remains for Armenia. Instead, they could have at least received the realization of the right of safe and guaranteed return of the citizens of Artsakh, but no: 

“The parties envisage that after the end of the initial 49-year term, the Shareholders will have the opportunity to extend the rights mentioned in Article 6, Clause 2 for another 50 years by mutual agreement. In that case, Armenia’s participation in the IDF should increase to 49%, and the extension of the term should be the only compensation for such an increase in its participation in the IDF. For Armenia, the increase in the ownership share should be the only compensation for the extension of the term of the IDF by the USA,” the document states.

• The greatest losses to states occur in peacetime with such vassal treaties. States disappear not during wars, but during so-called “peaceful” times, when they lose their vigilance, forget about their interests and lose everything. But I’m also sure that in our case, when working correctly, everything can be changed quickly:

• Russia is an empire and driven by imperial impulses. Armenia was part of the Russian Empire, the USSR Empire. There are connections, relations, and all this cannot be turned around in one day, let alone tell absolute lies with statements about joining the European Union. Not by adopting a law, nor by falling into the lap of dreams. you just have nothing to do with the European Union. The European Union has never talked about Armenia’s membership. 

• Aggravation of relations with Russia will not lead anywhere good. 

• The condition of the villagers is terrible.

Details in the video.

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