Political enemies and state-centred opposition
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan threatened to "break the arms and legs" of people who distribute electoral bribes during his weekly press briefing on Thursday. He clarified that he meant this "in the political sense of the word" when discussing the need for a "state-centred" opposition. Pashinyan said in a social media video that he was not happy that his Civil Contract party won 90% plus of the share of votes in some communities during the October local elections held in 21 communities. He wants to prevent election results from giving the impression of "dictatorship" or "authoritarianism" and seeks to establish an objective public control mechanism in communities where he has high levels of trust. He also wants to form an opposition that is "young, intellectual, objective, and genuine" and directed only by its electorate. I find his plan to "smash them to pieces" in a political sense, similar to a "Great October Socialist Revolution," is a blunt way to describe how he will uproot certain political mindsets.
Arrests and bribery accusations
Pashinyan said he will "go after" anyone claiming to control multiple votes through law enforcement or political means. He noted that people often claim certain individuals can secure 50, 100, 200, or 300 votes for a party, but he maintains every person in Armenia has only one vote. He called anyone with more than one vote his "class enemy" and said that if people with this mindset exist within Civil Contract, they are "ten times more" his class enemies. He compared his proposed approach to a new revolution, contrasting it with the 2018 Velvet Revolution of "love and solidarity" that brought him to power. Ahead of the June 2026 parliamentary elections, Armenian authorities arrested numerous opposition figures from various main opposition blocs, specifically targeting members of Strong Armenia, on accusations of distributing electoral bribes supported by wiretapped recordings. The opposition rejected these accusations, describing the arrests as politically motivated pressure. Independent observation missions also raised concerns over the criminal cases against opposition members and supporters before the elections.
