Opposition groups unite to seek 'regime's removal' after court upholds election results

By Lia Avagyan

Five Armenian opposition forces announced late on Saturday that they were joining forces around a common political agenda aimed at removing what they called the "current regime" — a reference to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government — marking the first coordinated initiative by much of the opposition since the Constitutional Court upheld the results of the June 7 parliamentary election.

The joint declaration, issued hours after the court rejected appeals challenging the election, commits the five groups to what they described as a new phase of "large-scale political resistance."

The signatories are the Strong Armenia alliance, the Armenia Alliance, the Prosperous Armenia Party, the Armenian National Congress, and the National Democratic Pole. Of those five, only Strong Armenia and the Armenia Alliance won seats in parliament following the June election. Prosperous Armenia narrowly missed the electoral threshold, while the Armenian National Congress and the National Democratic Pole failed to secure representation.

The five-party platform differs from the group that challenged the election results before the Constitutional Court. Seven political forces filed appeals against the election outcome, including Strong Armenia, the Armenia Alliance, Prosperous Armenia, Wings of Unity, the New Power party, the For the Republic Democracy Defenders alliance, and the DOK party. Of those, only Strong Armenia, the Armenia Alliance and Prosperous Armenia joined Friday's joint declaration, while the Armenian National Congress and the National Democratic Pole—both election participants that did not appeal to the court—became new signatories. Wings of Unity, New Power, the For the Republic Democracy Defenders alliance and DOK were absent.

The announcement followed the Constitutional Court's decision to uphold the official election results, confirming the Central Election Commission's decision to invalidate results from three polling stations without ordering repeat voting. The ruling left the Prosperous Armenia Party with 3.95% of the vote, just below the 4% threshold needed to enter parliament after the invalidated votes prevented it from crossing the threshold.

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In their statement, the five groups said the Constitutional Court's decision "does not resolve the question of the legitimacy of the emerging government" and "does not correct electoral fraud or eliminate the widespread violations recorded during the election." They argued that the ruling instead shifts "the struggle into the sphere of political resistance."

Four-point agenda

The opposition groups said they would coordinate around four priorities: preventing the government's proposed constitutional changes, defending the Armenian Apostolic Church, seeking the release of what they describe as political prisoners, and removing the "current regime." "The examination of opposition complaints in the Constitutional Court has only confirmed that the removal of the current regime has become an imperative with no alternative," the statement said.

Calling on supporters to mobilize, the parties added that the Constitutional Court's ruling "is not the end of the struggle, but the beginning of a new, more systematic, institutional and large-scale phase of political resistance."

The groups said discussions on joint actions are continuing and that they will announce coordinated political initiatives in the coming days.