Samvel Karapetyan, leader of the Strong Armenia party, said his party would participate in and win any snap elections, although he believes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will not call them.
Speaking to journalists outside the courthouse before the start of a hearing, Karapetyan addressed questions about the possibility of early elections and Strong Armenia’s participation.
“We will participate, and we will win. Even if you put a gun to his head and threaten to shoot him, he will not call snap elections. He spent $1 billion and barely managed to secure 49% of the vote,” Karapetyan said, according to Panorama.am.
Karapetyan reiterated his conviction that snap elections would not take place but said his party would participate if they were held.
“We would only be happy if they were held. We will ensure Pashinyan’s removal from power. It will happen soon,” he said.
Karapetyan also expressed concern that formalizing the TRIPP arrangement without signing a peace agreement could create serious risks for Armenia.
“Signing an agreement on TRIPP without signing a peace agreement could pose very serious dangers to Armenia. They could, for example, open TRIPP as a corridor and simply say goodbye to us. The same threats would continue to hang over our country,” he said.
Journalists also asked Karapetyan about footage released by the Investigative Committee following the arrest of his party’s candidate in Stepanavan and whether bribes had been distributed ahead of the local elections.
“Of course not. If we had distributed bribes, those who received the election bribes would also have been arrested. They have arrested only members of our team. This is an election headquarters, and various expenses are incurred. The man paid out of his own pocket. Apart from salaries, there are other expenses: campaign posters need to be put up, buses need to be hired to travel to villages,” Karapetyan said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Pashinyan had not ruled out the possibility of snap elections if he failed to convince the opposition on the issue of holding a referendum on a new Constitution.
