The lawmaker, Hovik Aghazarian, was one of the eight officials whom Pashinian told to resign in text messages sent on November 17. All of those officials except Aghazarian stepped down in the following days.
They included Argishti Kyaramian, the head of Armenia’s Investigative Committee who clashed with Aghazarian during a parliamentary hearing in October. The two men insulted each other and nearly came to blows.
Although Aghazarian initially denied reports that he is under strong pressure to give up his parliament seat, Pashinian admitted on November 22 “asking” him to do so. Parliament speaker Alen Simonian reportedly stepped up that pressure during a November 25 meeting with the lawmaker known for his flamboyant and blunt rhetoric.
“It is with deep regret that I must decline Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's request,” Aghazarian told 24news.am. He called it “the toughest decision of my life” and said he may well be ousted from the ruling Civil Contract party’s parliamentary group as a result.
The 64-year-old, who is a veteran member of the party, said his exit from the parliament would have led many Armenians to conclude that he struck a deal with authorities to avoid prosecution for influence peddling.
Armenia - Investigative Committee chief Argishti Kyaramian (left) and parliament deputy Hovik Aghazarian argue during a parliamentary hearing, Yerevan, October 15, 2024.
Following Pashinian’s resignation “request,” Aghazarian was repeatedly summoned to Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee and questioned in two separate criminal investigations conducted by the law-enforcement agency. He is suspected of illegal influence peddling strongly denied by him.
Pashinian and members of his political team did not immediately react to Aghazarian’s defiant statement. “I can’t comment on that yet,” Vahagn Aleksanian, a deputy chairman of Civil Contract, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Legal experts say that Pashinian told Aghazarian to resign in breach of the Armenian constitution which protects lawmakers against any outside influence. They say a similar message texted to the head of Armenia’s judicial oversight body, Karen Andreasian, was also unconstitutional. Pashinian insisted on November 22 that he had “political, moral and legal” authority to make such a “request” to Andreasian.
The resulting resignations of Andreasian and six other officials came just days after Pashinian publicly lamented a continuing lack of “justice” in the country. They were widely construed as being part of his efforts to boost his flagging popularity before general elections expected in June 2026 or earlier.