Former President Serzh Sargsyan said on Wednesday that a parliamentary vote of no confidence remains the most effective way to remove Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from power.
Sargsyan’s Republican Party (HHK), one of two opposition factions represented in Armenia’s parliament, first proposed such a motion in April. The initiative, however, failed to gain support from the larger opposition bloc, the Hayastan alliance, despite HHK’s offer to nominate Hayastan’s leader, former President Robert Kocharyan, as a candidate for prime minister.
Senior members of Hayastan argued that the two opposition groups do not have enough votes to even force a debate on the measure in the Pashinyan-controlled National Assembly. Kocharyan dismissed the plan as “unserious” and “unrealistic,” deepening tensions between the two former presidents.
Kocharyan and his allies have suggested that the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for June 2026, present the most viable opportunity to unseat Pashinyan. Sargsyan, by contrast, reiterated on Wednesday that his party has not yet decided whether to contest those elections.
“The right and optimal way to achieve [regime change] is to vote no confidence in the government and the prime minister,” Sargsyan told reporters.
“Look at international experience,” he continued. “What happened yesterday in Nepal and France were two major events. There are two ways to remove a government that no longer enjoys public trust: one is Nepal’s way, through violence and killings, and the other is France’s way, through parliament. Now, what can we offer our people?”
So far, HHK has refrained from organizing mass rallies in support of the no-confidence motion, and political observers say the party would struggle to mobilize large crowds on its own.
