Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has called the 2026 parliamentary elections an opportunity to “liberate” the National Assembly from what he described as “agents of foreign influence and their leaders.”
Speaking during a parliamentary debate on the draft state budget for 2026, Pashinyan said that Armenia’s citizens were increasingly frustrated by the lingering political influence of former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan.
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“People accuse us of continuing to respond to Kocharyan, Sargsyan, and the forces they lead,” Pashinyan said. “Soon there will be parliamentary elections, and there is a high probability that the forces led by these figures will not enter parliament. It’s really time to resolve this issue.”
Addressing the opposition benches, the prime minister added that since 2018, Armenia has remained “in the pocket of the same country whose agents of influence are among those listed.”
Pashinyan’s remarks come amid mounting tension between the ruling Civil Contract party and opposition factions, as well as ongoing debate over Armenia’s foreign policy orientation and relations with Moscow.
