Pashinyan comments on opposition and parliament

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that public reconciliation in Armenia would only be possible if what he described as a “three-headed force” is removed from the country’s political landscape.

“We are not murderers who would have someone killed. We are a state, and I have said that the state will remain at their throats,” Pashinyan told journalists, according to Aysor.am .

The prime minister also stated that if opposition parties choose not to take their parliamentary mandates, he would view that as an honest decision.

“We will have a clean and legitimate parliament. Otherwise, they will come and spread the stench of vote-buying throughout parliament,” he said.

Pashinyan also addressed allegations that the current authorities had offered a political deal to opposition forces in order to secure a constitutional majority in the National Assembly, including claims involving Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan, Sputnik Armenia reported.

“If they say a deal was offered, then let them say who offered it and to whom. If we had offered Gagik Tsarukyan a deal, he would have come toward it on his knees. No one in Armenia has offered him a deal. That is why he has wandered around the world looking for one. He found some, and later it turned out that he had simply been recruited without realizing it,” the prime minister said.

According to preliminary election results, votes were distributed as follows: Civil Contract — 49.825 percent, Strong Armenia — 23.281 percent, Armenia Alliance — 9.934 percent, and Prosperous Armenia — 3.996 percent. Updated figures indicate that Prosperous Armenia has not crossed the 4 percent threshold required for parties and has requested recounts in several polling stations.