Legislative in Armenia: Pachinian's show of force in meeting
Audio 01:21
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian during his last meeting before the election, in Yerevan, June 17, 2021. via REUTERS - Vahram Baghdasaryan / Photolure
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
The outgoing Prime Minister, Nikol Pachinian held this Thursday evening in the Armenian capital his last electoral rally before the early legislative elections.
A show of force while the games remain very open.
Publicity
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They are about 20,000 gathered this Thursday in the central square of Yerevan to follow the last electoral rally of Nikol Pachinian before the legislative elections. The hoarse voice, tired after a very offensive campaign across the country, the head of government speaks in front of the crowd who shouts: “
Nikol Prime Minister!
"
A slogan that Grigor Aprian chanted more than once in 2018. “
At the time of the revolution, I was there too,
” he said at the microphone of our special
correspondent
,
Anastasia Becchio
.
By voting for Pachinian, we are choosing justice, because for 28 years we have lived in very bad conditions.
The corruption was total and of course the people who were responsible for the corruption under Kocharian want to come back to power so that they can keep what they stole.
"
Accused of "overthrowing the constitutional order" for having rigged the 2008 presidential election, former President
Robert Kotcharian
was acquitted in April.
He then embarked on the electoral race, and today poses as a serious competitor to Nikol Pachinian.
If we have come to this, it is because the Prime Minister has not succeeded in reforming the judicial system still placed in the hands of the old regime, regrets Marina Iratian.
“We
had to reform.
Everyone was expecting this.
But it's true that it takes time, she
says.
It's not easy to clean the Augean stables.
And then there was also the war and the Covid.
All of this undoubtedly delayed the process.
"
Nikol Pachinian, a 46-year-old former journalist, was brought to power by a peaceful revolution on the promise of driving out corrupt elites from this tiny former Soviet Caucasian republic.
The defeat in
Nagorno-Karabakh
seriously damaged the popularity of the hero of the velvet revolution.
A ceasefire ended six weeks of fighting, which left nearly 6,000 dead, but Yerevan had to cede territory under its control for some 30 years, a decision which sparked major protests and calls for the resignation of Nikol Pachinian.
Faced with this mobilization, but also because of a conflict with the military staff, the Prime Minister, described as a "traitor" by the opposition, ended up resolving to convene these early legislative elections that he did not today is not sure to win.
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Also to listen: Elections in Armenia: Nikol Pachinian, incumbent candidate under fire from critics
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Armenia
Nikol Pachinian