Another weighty piece of evidence has been added to the list of judgments about the pre-election anxieties and catastrophically low approval rating of the person currently occupying the chair of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, points that had already been reflected in the Editorial of the previous issue of the “Hayatsk Yerevanits” Journal. During a briefing with journalists after the April 9 government session, Nikol Pashinyan addressed the question of what he meant the day before when he spoke about depriving Tashir Group owner Samvel Karapetyan, a prominent Russian-Armenian billionaire based partly in Kaluga, Russia, of his property. Pashinyan’s exact response was as follows: “Samvel from Kaluga, through his spokespersons, urges me not to be afraid. But how can I not be afraid? I am afraid that by the end of the year you might turn from a billionaire into a bum.”
This was Pashinyan’s reaction to a Facebook post by Narek Karapetyan, a member of the political council of the “Strong Armenia” party. The latter had written somewhat sarcastically: “Hey, man with a hat, don’t be afraid of Karapetyan. He won’t harm you; once he gets out, he just has a thing or two to tell you.” In other words, responding to Narek’s call not to fear Samvel Karapetyan, Nikol countered with a threat to turn the president of the “Tashir” group of companies into a “bum.” But the “war of words” did not end there. Narek, a knowledgeable and spirited young man, could not let it go and sharply retorted: “This is what happens when a person who is a vagabond at heart becomes prime minister.”
“Vagabonds at heart,” yes, are intolerable in everyday life, and a disaster when in the position of governing a country. In a post addressed to Karapetyan, he openly threatens: “We will soon completely shut down your system of illegal money circulation…” Meanwhile, during a briefing with journalists, he tried to appear innocent: “In my statement, if you noticed, there is no element of threat. I said I am afraid, because I think that the person you mentioned will clearly not fulfill the promises he has made to certain circles outside Armenia. It is also clear that all that property will be taken from him. I am very sorry; I would not want any Armenian capital to be wiped out,” Pashinyan said, hypocritically.
The excerpt from his statement above is quite transparent. In a poorly disguised manner, he suggests that he is “afraid,” knowing that Samvel Karapetyan will not succeed in fulfilling the promises made to “certain circles outside Armenia” (clearly implying Russian ones), the first of which is to carry out a change of power in Armenia and remove Pashinyan from office. According to him, Karapetyan will fail to accomplish this task and, therefore, will be forced to compensate his Russian “masters” with his own assets, as allegedly agreed. In Pashinyan’s scenario, Karapetyan will be deprived of both political power and capital.
Thus, internal fears continue to give Nikol Pashinyan no peace. At this moment, the billionaire’s rating is unreachably high and still shows a tendency to grow. An urgent way had to be found to hinder the smooth rise of a formidable competitor, and this was done through an unlawfully adopted amendment to the Electoral Code. On April 7, the National Assembly, in both first and second readings, adopted a new set of amendments to the Constitutional Law "Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia" with 66 votes “in favor,” exclusively from MPs of the ruling political force the Civil Contract faction, which had submitted the bill to parliament.
However, making changes to the Electoral Code two months before elections is a gross violation of the requirements of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission). According to the proposed amendment: “The name of a coalition of parties may not contain a personal name, the names of state and local self-government bodies, or names confusingly similar to them and/or their grammatical forms.” It is evident that this initiative was specifically adopted against Samvel Karapetyan, owner of the “Tashir” group of companies and a candidate for prime minister, whose name and surname appear in the title of the “Strong Armenia” alliance as follows: “Strong Armenia with Samvel Karapetyan.”
At one time, Nikol Pashinyan was troubled by Samvel Karapetyan’s ideas “In Our Way” and “Strong Armenia,” for the first of which the philanthropist remains in detention to this day. Then Nikol began to be bothered by the businessman’s large photographs placed in various locations around Yerevan, which were removed on his orders. Now he is even alarmed by the name and surname that are supposed to be included on the ballots. What does this suggest? It really looks like kindergarten behavior.
“Hayatsk Yerevanits” Journal