The HHK and Vanetsian’s Hayrenik (Fatherland) party have been affiliated with the Homeland Salvation Front, a coalition of opposition forces that have tried to toppled Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian over his handling of last year’s war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Unlike Hayrenik, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) and other members of the alliance, the HHK until recently signaled its desire to boycott snap parliamentary elections expected in June, saying that they could be rigged by Pashinian.
But the former ruling party eventually decided against an election boycott at a meeting of its governing body headed by Sarkisian. In a statement, it cited the “vital need” to oust Pashinian.
“Given the existing political realities, we believe that the Hayrenik party’s possible political cooperation is the most effective way to dethrone the capitulator [Pashinian,]” Armen Ashotian, the HHK’s deputy chairman, told a news conference.
The HHK thus chose not to team up for now with Robert Kocharian, another former president who is expected to join forces with Dashnaktsutyun. Kocharian again said earlier this month that he will be Pashinian’s main challenger.
Hayrenik did not immediately react to the HHK announcement. Vanetsian founded the party a year ago after being relieved of his duties in September 2019r.
Vanetsian, 42, was appointed as head of the NSS immediately the 2018 “Velvet Revolution” that toppled Sarkisian and brought Pashinian to power. He quickly became an influential member of Pashinian’s entourage, overseeing high-profile corruption investigations into former government officials and Sarkisian’s relatives.
Ashotian downplayed this fact and said the former security chief has cooperated with various opposition forces since his resignation.