Now, let us return to the opposition’s conscientious silence. Here, the main questions naturally concern the Strong Armenia Party and its leader. This was the only opposition force that spoke not of a possible victory, but of an absolute victory. And when questions arose about having a “Plan B,” its leader, Samvel Karapetyan, dismissed them, saying that they had no “Plan B” because they were completely confident they would take power. Moreover, Karapetyan is one of the rare figures in Armenia’s political history to possess such unique opportunities, owing to his authority, international ties, and past record.
The opposition field was well disposed toward him and welcomed his arrival. The public trusted him and placed its faith and respect in the Karapetyan family. Even competing political forces publicly expressed their support for the Strong Armenia Party and its leader during the pre-election period. Unfortunately, that exceptional trust was not justified. Strong Armenia, which had secured the highest ratings in nearly all independent opinion polls and had become a “thorn in the side” of Civil Contract Party members, proved unable to withstand the attacks and pressure of the ruling political force, as Pashinyan’s entire cohort of “pocket” law-enforcement agencies and police forces were deployed against it.
Samvel Karapetyan later declared that they had a secret plan to remove Pashinyan but days later it turned out that the first step of that plan was to take up their parliamentary mandates. It was claimed that a new political process would begin from that point. Earlier, it had been announced that within the framework of the “secret plan,” the opposition had managed to achieve the removal of NA speaker Alen Simonyan, which was evaluated by some as trivializing the matter. And so, taking things jokingly, we arrived at the point where the person who brought defeat and disasters upon the country was “elected” prime minister of Armenia for the third time. It is painful, but a fact: Nikol is prime minister, and that’s it…?
Read more at ACNIS reView from Yerevan #29, 2026 of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS).
