Andranik Gevorgyan, a member of Armenia’s National Assembly from the Strong Armenia parliamentary faction, has responded in a Facebook broadcast to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement condemning pressure ahead of local government elections.
Gevorgyan publicly identified citizens who he alleged had faced pressure from the authorities during National Assembly elections.
Pashinyan had instructed officials to rule out the use of administrative resources and pressure during local government elections, warning of a harsh response to any violations.
“I am naming people who have been subjected to pressure and lost their jobs. Serine Manukyan, an educator at the kindergarten named after Amalya Karapetyan in Stepanavan, was dismissed because of a photograph. She was told that the person she had been photographed with should find her another job.
“Next is Manushak Lalazaryan, who worked as a nurse at the Stepanavan polyclinic for 38 years, and Olga Sahakyan, also a nurse at the Stepanavan polyclinic. They, too, were dismissed because of their political views,” the lawmaker said.
On October 19, Pashinyan published a post urging all candidates and voters participating in the upcoming local government elections who claimed to have faced unlawful pressure to contact him directly.
In a video released on October 20, Pashinyan said that only three people had responded to his appeal. One was a lawmaker from the Strong Armenia faction who had sent a link concerning alleged pressure.
“I instructed the inspection body to conduct an urgent investigation because the case concerns dismissal from employment for political reasons. Another submission was a video showing a child delivering a speech. The child was not reading or reciting a memorized text, but simply speaking. I forwarded that to the Anti-Corruption Committee. In the third message, the author said they supported my policies but that the wrong candidate had been nominated in their community,” Pashinyan said.
In his Facebook video address, Pashinyan again addressed the upcoming local government elections and allegations that representatives of the ruling party were exerting pressure on opposition figures. He said Armenia must not allow democracy to be used to establish an anti-democratic system, urging strict adherence to democratic rules.
“I urge all of you not to deviate even a millimeter from the rules of democracy, freedom and legality. In fact, I am not urging you — I am instructing and ordering you. Do not deviate even a millimeter from the rules of democracy, legality and freedom. If there is any deviation, there will be a very harsh response, a disproportionately harsh response,” he said.
