Former Deputy Defense Minister: 2026 elections are a "final opportunity" to shape Armenia`s future
ArmInfo. The upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia should not be perceived as just a power struggle, but rather as a critical turning point for the nation's survival, as stated by Artak Zakaryan, a member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and former Deputy Minister of Defense, during a press conference titled "Factors Threatening the Security of Armenia and the Armenian World" in Yerevan on January 30.
The politician stated that electoral processes provide Armenian citizens with the opportunity to make a choice and a political decision every four years. He emphasized that, although elections represent the free expression of the will of citizens, it is important that this choice be well thought out as everyone bears responsibility for it. "If, for instance, if German citizens in 1933 had chosen differently, the world might have avoided millions of casualties (the Nazi rise to power in 1933, which began with Hitler's appointment as Reich Chancellor - ed.). Similarly, the choices made by Armenian citizens during the 2018 "Velvet Revolution" (the Velvet Revolution, which resulted in Nikol Pashinyan becoming Prime Minister of Armenia - ed.) and the 2021 snap elections directly led to the war and the loss of Artsakh. A similar situation occurred in 2021 (early parliamentary elections in Armenia on June 20 - ed.), which also had its consequences," Zakaryan recalled.
The politician stressed that the 2026 elections must be about choosing an effective ideology and a force capable of navigating Armenia out of its current crisis. "The Armenian people must choose the force that will offer effective mechanisms for the country to exit this difficult situation. If at least one of the opposition forces can overcome the necessary threshold to form a government, this will mark the beginning of new opportunities for Armenia and the pooling of existing resources. To achieve this, the elections should not be perceived as a power struggle, especially by those who understand the current realities. After all, this may be the last opportunity for the Armenian people to change the country's future, as the current government is leading the country toward the influence of the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem," Zakaryan emphasized.
He concluded by noting that while global powers-including Russia, the U.S., Iran, China, and the EU- will eventually adapt to whatever course Armenia takes, the Armenian people must find their own reasoned solutions. "We must independently find the right, argued, and justified decisions for ourselves," Zakaryan urged.