Kocharyan: European bureaucracy is fostering a dictator in Armenia

YEREVAN, June 19. /TASS/. European bureaucracy is fostering a dictator in Armenia in the person of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, as evidenced by the EU countries’ assessment of the June 7 parliamentary elections in the republic, Armenia’s former President (1998-2008) and now leader of the Armenia opposition bloc Robert Kocharyan said.

According to Kocharyan, Armenia’s authorities used all the tools at their disposal to rig the elections. Should such violations occur during his presidency, European countries would have made much ado about this.

"We are living in a time when double standards have become a common practice. <…> Today, everything is painted in black and white and everyone is viewed through the lens of ‘if this person one of us or not.’ If a person viewed a ‘one of us,’ he or she is free to do whatever they want. That is how things are. And this is a huge responsibility for these countries and the European bureaucracy, because they’re fostering yet another dictator. By the way, they already have such an experience in other countries," he said in an interview with Armenian media outlets.

Local observers and the opposition reported numerous violations, such as carousel voting, withdrawal of ballots, and open voting, during the parliamentary elections in Armenia on June 7. Detentions on opposition activists were reported during the elections. Pressure on the opposition continued after the polls, with criminal cases being initiated against a number of activists.