Samvel Karapetyan accused Pashinyan of putting pressure on the opposition

The leader of the Strong Armenia party, Samvel Karapetyan, said that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has no other means of retaining power except through pressure on the opposition. He informed Alexey Poltoranin, a correspondent of Izvestia, about this on June 7.

According to Karapetyan, detentions of representatives of opposition forces continue in the country.

"The repression continues even today, a lot of our people are being arrested. <...> But he has no other option, he only wants to keep power through this," he said.

At the same time, the politician expressed confidence that the final decision will be made by the citizens of the country in the elections. Karapetyan noted that he is counting on the "right choice" of the Armenian voters.

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Regular parliamentary elections began in Armenia on June 7, following which a new legislative body will be formed on the territory of the state and a prime minister will be appointed. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the republic, 2,500 polling stations are open throughout the country from 08:00 to 20:00, and the total number of voters is 2 million 485 thousand 851 people.

Political analyst Tigran Kocharyan said on June 7 that Pashinyan was putting pressure on the opposition because of the elections and was using administrative resources to mobilize his "supporters." He also pointed to Pashinyan's desire to intimidate the opposition-minded population of Armenia by arresting citizens daily, creating an atmosphere of fear.

On June 5, the head of the Central Election Commission of Armenia, Vahagn Hovakimyan, announced that the CEC did not deprive Samvel Karapetyan's bloc of registration for the upcoming elections on June 7. It was clarified that the issue was considered on the basis of the appeal of the leader of the pro-Western Republika party, Aram Sargsyan, after the appeal of the Prime Minister of Armenia.