On 5 December, the opposition parties in Armenia issued an ultimatum to the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign by noon on 8 December or face acts of civil disobedience throughout the country.

The Prime Minister candidate of the opposition in Armenia, Vazgen Manukyan, presented the roadmap for solving the situation in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. He noted that the first issue was related to the trilateral agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh signed between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. According to Manukyan, the document won’t be renounced if he takes the government but reconciled instead. He also emphasised that the country’s army needs to be rebuilt and that relations with Russia need to be restored. Manukyan also said that another important issue was helping the families of missing servicemen, prisoners of war, wounded and killed servicemen, as well as those who were transferred from Karabakh to Armenia. 

Other prominent political figures in the country also supported Manukyan’s statements. “Today our country as a state and our society, all together are in a deep post-war crisis. This should be recorded without formalities, without lying to ourselves and at the same time without despair. We must fully realise and accept the existence of the crisis and do everything to overcome it. Each of us has a right to express his/her opinion, dissatisfaction and demand explanation from authorities for the huge human and territorial losses caused to us as a result of the war. The government cannot act in the spirit of 2018 public moods. Today we need crucial decisions. The solutions must be in [alignment with] national consent, we must manage to restore the atmosphere of tolerance, mutual respect, sum up all the positive and vital qualities of our people and turn them into a collective force which will be the guarantor of our future success,” read the public address of Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian.

Sarkissian also criticised the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund for donating most of $170 million charity during the Nagorno-Karabakh war to the Armenian government. Sarkissian’s office revealed that he objected to the financial contribution approved by most members of Hayastan’s board of trustees, which is headed by the Armenian president. It said he believes the decision left the fund’s donors suspecting that “their trust has been abused.” Sarkissian also called for an “urgent international audit” of Hayastan. He said that in case of “negative findings,” the government should redefine the hefty donation as a “loan” and pledge to eventually reimburse the fund.

Armenia’s former President Robert Kocharyan stated that Pashinyan’s government made the war “inevitable” with reckless diplomacy and miscalculations of Armenia’s military potential and needs. He said its “grave blunders” committed during the war predetermined Azerbaijan’s victory. “I can recall only one case in history where a state lost [a war] but did not change its government,” he said. “It was [after] the first war in Iraq in 1991. Saddam Hussein stayed in power, using his entire totalitarian system. He ended up badly: they hanged him,” he added. 

Pashinyan responded by saying that the country’s diplomatic losses date back to the previous administration. “The Karabakh issue came to be perceived as a territorial dispute, and it became the greatest problem given that the international community started perceiving Armenia as an occupant. It isn't something that happened in the past couple of years,” he stated.  

Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan expressed his fears that the current situation might lead to a civil war. “The rally led by Vazgen Manukyan deepened my fears about the risk of a civil war threatening our country. The half-hour blockade of the Prime Minister's residence by the jam-packed march led by Manukyan and the disgusting act of intimidation of Pashinyan's family is nothing but an open demonstration of readiness for violence,” Ter-Petrosyan stated.

“Considering the disgraceful and humiliating defeat for Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, the Pashinyan regime must leave definitely and immediately; but not through internal national conflicts, but exclusively through constitutional means, which will bring honour to both conflicting parties,” he added.