On 10 May, Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan held a speech in front of the country’s National Assembly where he spoke on the current issues in Armenia.

He stated that the outbreak of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war was his main failure during his mandate as the country’s prime minister. However, he added that the point of no return with respect to this war was before he came to power. “After the war, I kept coming back to 2018 and trying to rearrange everything. I would not repeat everything with the same accuracy, but, of course, as of April 2018, we have passed the point of return in terms of the Karabakh conflict,” he stated. Pashinyan also said that he believed that his government has succeeded in achieving the main goal of the revolution: where the “citizens consider themselves as the masters of the country.”

He further elaborated that the circumstances of the war, as well as the negotiation process should be studied by a special parliamentary committee. “I am ready [to be questioned], and I know I have nothing to hide. Let us agree that this will be one of the most important tasks of the new parliament,” he stated. 

An important aspect of Pashinyan’s speech were the Armenian-Turkish relations in the aftermath of the war. “Turkey is our enemy and at the same time a neighbour; usually enemies are neighbours; it would be difficult to imagine that any country below the equator would be considered our enemy. Today, only superpowers have enemies outside their region,” he stated. According to him, the time has come to fix that the enmity "must be controlled, because in the end, when it boils, at some point it leads to an explosion." 

It should be noted that Pashinyan’s speech came at a special sitting of the country’s parliament where the matter of electing Armenia’s new prime minister was discussed after the parliament failed to elect the country’s new prime minister on 3 May. 

Meanwhile, the newly appointed leader of the Reviving Armenia-Dashnaktsutyun bloc Robert Kocharyan held a rally in Yerevan on 9 May, pledging to restore “dignified peace” and security in the country. He blamed Pashinyan for Armenia’s defeat in last year’s war and said Armenians would become a “nation of losers” if the latter holds on to power after the fresh parliamentary elections slated for next month. Kocharyan said that the 9 November agreement that stopped the war also left Karabakh facing a “quite murky” future. He argued that the agreement allows Azerbaijan to demand in 2025 the withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping troops deployed in the Armenian-populated territories in Karabakh.

According to Kocharyan, if his bloc wins the elections, they would first assess the amount of damage inflicted on the country in all areas - economy, legal system, education, science and others, which is necessary for planning the next steps. He also said if they win the elections they would immediately start implementing anti-crisis measures in order to stop the degradation of the security and public administration, to stop the economic downturn, and restore the country's image and predictability. 

“We have long lost the credibility of a trusted partner, including in the international arena. It is fundamentally important that the people immediately feel the changes in the country, and they will feel it. We will not make empty promises. Our success will be guaranteed by skills, experience, diligence, discipline and love for the country,” Kocharyan stated. He added that his bloc would offer the concept of a working country that would again turn into a construction site and the primary task will be to create tens of thousands of new jobs annually. According to Kocharyan, the country will have a new high-tech economy and developed agriculture, and the top task will be to dramatically improve the quality of life of all citizens. 

It should be stressed that Kocharyan’s rally was attended by several former National Security Service (NSS) top officials, including Mikayel Hambardzumyan (former Director), Hrant Yepiskoposyan (former first Deputy Director) and Vrezh Arzumanyan (former Deputy Director). 

It was also reported that Kocharyan’s former party, the Republican Party of Armenia, is holding negotiations with the Fatherland (Hayrenik) party to also form an election bloc.