Hovik Aghazarian and Hakob Aslanian, who staunchly supported Pashinian until their expulsions, accused him of establishing authoritarian rule in the country.
“We will do everything to prevent Nikol Pashinian from again becoming prime minister as a result of pre-term or regular elections,” declared Aghazarian.
Aghazarian was one of seven officials, including Armenia’s top judicial officer, whom Pashinian told to resign in text messages sent in November. He was the only one who defied the “request.”
In the following weeks, Aghazarian found himself under criminal investigation and had his personal communication controversially accessed by Pashinian and disclosed to other senior Civil Contract figures. The party expelled him from its ranks on December 3, accusing him of leaking “confidential information of state and partisan importance” to media.
Aslanian was ousted after denouncing on December 11 fellow members of Pashinian’s political team for using Aghazarian’s private data for political purposes. Both men, who are close friends, refused to give up their parliament seats despite coming under strong government pressure.
They for the first time strongly criticized Pashinian during the founding congress of their United National Constitutional Party. In particular, Aghazarian said Pashinian exposed his “long-standing covert authoritarian rule” when he publicly admitted telling the supposedly independent head of the Supreme Judicial Council, Karen Andreasian, to step down.
“We now have one-man rule in Armenia,” Aslanian charged for his part.
Tsonivar Vartanian, another Civil Contract parliamentarian who remains loyal to Pashinian, shrugged off their accusations and calls for regime change. “I have no desire to comment on Mr. Aghazarian’s claims because they are ludicrous,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Aghazarian also claimed for the first time that he and Aslanian fell out with Pashinian because of disagreeing with the prime minister’s appeasement policy towards Azerbaijan and efforts to significantly deepen Armenia’s ties with the West.
Pashinian was clearly angered to Aghazarian’s defiant stance. He said on December 4 that “political, moral, and other levers” will be used to strip the 65-year-old parliamentarian of his seat. The only legal way of doing that is to lift the lawmaker’s immunity from prosecution and accuse and convict him of a crime. Critics condemned that statement as an illegal order issued to investigators and courts.
An Armenian law-enforcement agency said later in December that it is formally investigating “reports” that Aghazarian leaked state secrets to media. It has not yet asked the Armenian parliament to allow his prosecution.