Kocharyan Draws Comparison Between Himself and Politically Inexperienced Samvel Karapetyan

YEREVAN — Armenia’s second president, Robert Kocharyan, has effectively suggested that voters within the opposition should choose between a political force that presents appealing pre-election programs but lacks experience in politics, and himself—a leader with ten years of experience governing the country.

Without mentioning names directly, Kocharyan clearly drew a comparison between himself and billionaire businessman Samvel Karapetyan, who is taking his first steps in politics.

“The main question is: who can actually accomplish this? Someone who has proven they can do it, who has the ability and leads a political team that has demonstrated its capacity to fight—or completely new people who have the desire but lack experience and have not yet proven themselves in political struggle from any practical standpoint,” he said.

Although Kocharyan has not yet officially announced who will be the opposition’s candidate for prime minister, a podcast released on Saturday made it clear that he intends to lead the Armenia Alliance in the upcoming elections. The former president argued that he could once again pull the country out of a crisis, as he says he did in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

“We must position ourselves as a political force, and I must position myself as a leader who is capable—someone who has already done this once or twice, achieved serious successes during crisis situations, and can do it a third time. This should be our message to our voters,” Kocharyan said.

During a discussion with colleagues, Kocharyan acknowledged that after the 2021 elections his political camp had, in his words, “worn itself down” to some extent. However, he also insisted that over the past five years they had managed to “wear down” the government of Nikol Pashinyan, thereby creating space for new political forces to emerge.