On 24 May, the leader of the Reviving Armenia-Armenian Revolutionary Federation- Dashnaktsutyun election bloc Robert Kocharyan met with supporters in Armenia’s Armavir province where he spoke on the current political situation in the country, as well as his bloc’s election plans. 

Kocharyan emphasised that the incumbent authorities haven’t fulfilled any of their promises after the Velvet Revolution in 2018. “These people have no problem with lying. They don’t have remorse, and they’re not conscious and patriotic. Nevertheless, there are still people who are misled and believe in the incumbent authorities. It’s going to be hard because people were excited when they were a part of the changes that were being made in 2018, and now they have trouble or don’t want to accept the fact that all this led to devastating consequences for the country. We need to help those people choose the right path, and the path is patriotism, the Republic of Armenia. These are the problems we face,” he stated.

Speaking on the consequences of the Second Karabakh War, Kocharyan noted that any military encroachment on the country would be impossible if the country would have led the right policy. “Armenia experienced a war and suffered an embarrassing defeat since such fundamental things were undermined. They were doing stupid things, and the adversary got the impression that it is the moment when it can solve the issue through war. Whatever bad thing that could have happened to us with the signed document has already happened. The document will remain unchanged because Armenia transferred Kalbajar and Lachin to the enemy, but we will prevent the emergence of any document that will create additional problems,” Kocharyan said, adding that what was signed was a capitulation act, not an agreement. 

He also emphasised that the current delimitation process might create some problems in the negotiation process over Nagorno-Karabakh. “The hurriedness which the Azerbaijani side is showing relates to this very issue. In general, there is no need to be too afraid of delimitation; it's just that it’s a quite problematic issue now,” Kocharyan stressed.

Kocharyan also spoke about some concrete political steps he would undertake if his bloc wins the elections, including the simplification of obtaining the Armenian citizenship and developing the country’s agriculture sector. “The Republic of Armenia (RA) first constitution prohibited dual citizenship. During the first reforms, this ban was removed, citizenship was being provided in a rather simplified manner. Not being a citizen of a country and participating in the national elections of that country is a bit of a controversial issue. The election of local government bodies is different. If you have the status of a resident, participating in the elections is not a problem. Now there is even another problem. A person with RA citizenship who is in another country has no right to vote [in Armenia’s elections]. In the past, such voting was organised in the territory of our consulates," Kocharyan said. He pledged that the process of obtaining Armenian citizenship shall be simplified and shall take only a few months. “It is incomprehensible to me why it lasts so long; they check for three years whether you are Armenian or not. The fact of being Armenian is enough to get RA citizenship,” Kocharyan added. 

On the economic issues, Kocharyan promised to considerably increase the number of agricultural subsidies, that the tariff for irrigation water should become symbolic, and farmers should not have an issue using fertilisers and irrigation water. References were also made relating to enhancing the combat-readiness of the army, ensuring the security of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, bringing back the Armenian prisoners from Azerbaijan and reforms in education.