“Forming a single alliance made up of 15 or 20 members is just not realistic,” he told a group of university lecturers and students at a meeting publicized late on Monday.
Kocharian, who leads Armenia’s largest opposition group, commented on the possibility of opposition consolidation ahead of the next general elections due in June 2026.
“It depends on what we mean by consolidation,” he said. “If we mean gathering all opposition forces and telling them to unite, it’s not going to happen. Let’s not deceive ourselves.”
The opposition forces, Kocharian went on, could and should cooperate on “tactical” issues such as “setting rules of the game” and be ready to cut power-sharing deals and “work together” after the elections.
Kocharian’s Hayastan alliance and the Pativ Unem bloc dominated by the Republican Party of another former president, Serzh Sarkisian, are the only opposition groups represented in the current Armenian parliament. Their relationship has seriously deteriorated in recent months due to bitter recriminations traded by political allies of the two ex-presidents.
Anna Mkrtchian, a senior HHK member, said on Tuesday that the former ruling party still stands ready to cooperate with Kocharian’s alliance and other opposition committed to toppling Pashinian.
“We are talking about ousting Nikol as soon as possible and are ready to stand anywhere with anyone, who has the same agenda, without any ambition to become part of the future government,” Mkrtchian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Sarkisian told journalists last week that the HHK has devised a new plan to oust Pashinian but refused to shed light on it. He hinted only that he favors trying to achieve regime change through street protests before the next elections. By contrast, Kocharian seems to regard the polls as the best way to achieve that goal.