You probably remember that ahead of the 2021 elections, the first president proposed uniting the teams of the country’s three former leaders—while making it clear that none of the three presidents themselves intended to run. The reasoning was apparent: Ter-Petrosyan, Kocharyan, and Sargsyan may not be popular figures, but people could eventually come to accept that they no longer harbored ambitions to return to power. Instead, they had experience, standing, and resources that could potentially lift the country out of its dire situation.
That initiative by Ter-Petrosyan never materialized—and is unlikely to be revived in 2026. But the failure to unite these teams does not mean they should be attacking one another. On this point, it’s worth noting that Robert Kocharyan’s team has been the most active in stirring division, reigniting the meaningless and unproductive question of “who brought Nikol?”—a topic that I believe is both outdated and irrelevant. I find it hard to believe that the second president is truly unable to put an end to this narrative.
Such secondary—or rather, tenth-rate—discussions only distract from the central issue. The 2026 elections will be fundamentally different from those of 2021. First, the country is in a much more desperate state. Second, it is now evident that Pashinyan’s team is openly and unashamedly engaged in dismantling the Third Republic. Instead of citing several telling examples, I’ll mention just one: the effective “cancellation” of Armenia’s Declaration of Independence.
I understand that there are many people in Armenia who are not particularly concerned about the very existence of Armenian statehood. But for all those who do care, the issue should not be guided by personal sympathies or antipathies, nor by evaluations of what each figure has done or said over the past 35 years.
The question should be framed this way and only this way: Who is capable of removing Pashinyan from power? The opposition must forget all other distractions.
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Aram ABRAHAMYAN
