If Pashinyan Bans Any Opposition Party, The Rest Should Boycott the Election — By Harut Sassounian

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is proceeding with his electoral campaign amid countless violations of Armenia’s laws.

We have been witnessing Pashinyan’s rude, insulting, hysterical, and aggressive reactions whenever a citizen dares to criticize him during his campaign stops. This is not the normal behavior of a sane person, let alone the behavior expected of a Prime Minister.

There have been plenty of videos posted on social media during the past few weeks that show Pashinyan’s abnormal behavior towards those — mostly gutsy women — who courageously tell him to his face about the disastrous results of his policies, which have led to the loss of Artsakh, thousands of soldiers, parts of the Republic of Armenia, and perhaps soon all of Armenia. When citizens confront him to express their disagreement, they are viciously attacked by Pashinyan or pushed and shoved by his brainwashed supporters.

Those who have been following Pashinyan’s irrational behavior and senseless statements can see that he is increasingly exhibiting signs of mental disorder: screaming, threatening to jail, or even kill (“sadgetsnel”) his political opponents.

In recent months, Pashinyan’s subservient National Security Agency has accused his critics of being foreign agents, going as far as disseminating obviously fake documents. Pashinyan claimed that his major opponent in the election, Samvel Karapetyan, is a Russian agent. Karapetyan was arrested and charged with planning a coup d’état simply for saying that he supports the Armenian Apostolic Church. By releasing another fake document, Pashinyan falsely accused Karapetyan’s nephew, Nareg, of not disclosing his Russian citizenship — which would be a violation of electoral laws, since he is a parliamentary candidate. In addition, Pashinyan continues to interfere in Armenia’s judicial system by directing judges, who are supposed to be independent.

In the last two months, dozens of supporters of his political opponents have been arrested and imprisoned under the false accusation of giving bribes to voters. This is a ridiculous charge. Who is so foolish as to give a bribe to potential voters months before the election, hoping that they would vote for their party in the future?

Pashinyan has also imprisoned several high-ranking clergymen under the false pretext of committing various crimes. Furthermore, he regularly posts on Facebook obscene accusations against the Catholicos of All Armenians and meddles in internal Church affairs — a blatant violation of the constitutional provision on the separation of Church and State.

For years, Pashinyan has falsely claimed that his party’s previous two election victories, in 2018 and 2021, were fair and free of fraud. However, his actions tell a different story: he has violated numerous electoral laws, such as using governmental resources for his campaign, threatening his opponents, and employing illegal fundraising methods.

During the 2023 Yerevan City Council election, Pashinyan’s Civil Contract political party raised $1.3 million to ensure the victory of Tigran Avinyan, its candidate for mayor. An independent investigation revealed that some of the campaign funds donated by several individuals used fake names to hide their true identities. Violations included making large donations under others’ names. A woman whose ID card was fraudulently used was outraged and firmly denied making such a donation. In another case, donations were made in the names of eight employees of a prominent businessman — without their knowledge. Despite such blatant violations of fundraising laws, the courts failed to take any legal action against Pashinyan’s party.

Continuing the Civil Contract’s questionable fundraising practices, a new independent investigation by Infocom revealed that at least 23 directors of hospitals and medical centers from various regions of Armenia made almost simultaneous donations to the ruling party in March 2025. These directors of government-owned facilities are beholden to the authorities for their positions. More than $15,000 was transferred to the ruling party within a few days — between March 4 and 11, 2025. During the entire year, directors of 31 medical centers contributed about $22,000 to Pashinyan’s party. Even the Health Minister donated around $2,000 in 2025 to the ruling party. Infocom also revealed that Pashinyan’s party and the “My Step“ Foundation, led by his partner Anna Hakobyan, received contributions totaling $300,000 in the past three years from business owners or officials whose companies were granted government tax exemptions.

After making repeated threats to imprison his political opponents and warning that the opposition parties will not win any parliamentary seats in the upcoming election, Pashinyan may now cross all red lines and ban one or more opposition parties from the June 7 elections to guarantee his Civil Contract party’s victory.

If that happens, all opposition parties must boycott the parliamentary elections in protest. The result will be a parliament consisting exclusively of Pashinyan’s party after June 7 — reminiscent of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR where only the Communist Party was represented. This would confirm that Armenia is not a democratic country, but an autocracy.

So far, the West — out of self-interest and to the detriment of Armenia’s national interests — has ignored major violations of democratic rule. But if only one party remains in parliament, the West could no longer pretend that Armenia is a normal democracy. A concerted diplomatic effort should be launched to push foreign governments to refuse recognition of the illegitimate election results.

New parliamentary elections must then be organized, excluding Pashinyan’s party from participation.