Nikol Pashinyan realized that Vanetsyan strengthens his positions and arrested Khachik Galstyan and Aram Kocharyan: Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan

This government has long rigged the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place in six months, political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan stated. According to him, Nikol Pashinyan continues to actively prepare for the elections, not wasting a single day or hour.
“During the night, the secretary of the ‘Homeland’ party, my friend Khachik Galstyan, and the head of the party’s Vagharshapat branch, Aram Kocharyan, were arrested. You will recall that in the recent local government elections in Vagharshapat, the ‘Homeland’ party’s candidate, Khachik Manukyan, received 3.9 percent of the vote. The party was literally just a few votes short of overcoming the electoral threshold. And this was in a situation where Artur Vanetsyan was barely involved in the campaign.

This fact triggered a red light in Nikol’s mind. In the ‘Homeland’ party, he saw a force with the threat of crossing the electoral threshold. He also examined Vagharshapat within the context of the Gyumri local government elections, studied the results of the alliance formed with the participation of the ‘Homeland’ party, realized that Vanetsyan is strengthening his positions in the regions, and consequently made the decision to arrest one of the key figures of the ‘Homeland’ party, Khachik Galstyan. At the same time, by arresting the person responsible for the Vagharshapat structure, Aram Kocharyan, he sought to create the ‘grounds’ for a case and link it to the past local government elections.

Those who know Khachik Galstyan are well aware that he could never be involved in any wrongdoing. He is an exceptionally balanced, fair, and honest individual. He is also a scientist and a capable organizer. The Vagharshapat elections and Galstyan’s arrest are connected solely by the aforementioned red light flashing in Nikol’s head. Moreover, had Vanetsyan himself been actively involved in the Vagharshapat elections, I am convinced he would already be in custody. This possibility should not be ruled out. As I have said before, Nikol does not waste an hour or a day – he could make such a decision on the evening of December 31, the morning of January 1, or even right now. I will reiterate that Nikol is preparing for the elections and, as part of this preparation, is attempting to weaken another competitor.

In recent months, I have repeatedly stated that this government has long since rigged the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place in six months. If this process continues, the ‘results’ of those elections are entirely predictable to me. I have also spoken extensively about possible solutions. Frankly, I am curious: how many more people does Nikol need to arrest before the opposition realizes that the issue of changing the government must be resolved as soon as possible?

There is a political proposal, as well as legal mechanisms. And if the impeachment process is not given real substance, then the opposition will have only one place left to carry out a change of government – in prisons. Although…unfortunately, they will hardly do that either,” Melik-Shahnazaryan concluded.