They said it could redraw the country’s political landscape ahead of the next parliamentary elections due in June 2026.
Karapetian gave the clearest indication yet of his political ambitions on Friday as thousands of his supporters rallied outside a Yerevan prison where he is held on charges of calling for a violent overthrow of the Armenian government.
In a written appeal to the protesters read out by one of his lawyers, he urged Armenians to rally around a “fundamentally new force” which he will presumably create in a bid to remove Pashinian from power.
“Nikol Pashinian and his government have nothing to do in Armenia and should have nothing to do with the future of the Armenian people,” read the statement that quickly prompted scathing reactions from members of the premier’s political team.
Some of them again accused him of plotting to overthrow Pashinian’s government on Russia’s orders. The tycoon, who has mostly lived in Russia since the 1990s, pledged to not only fight for regime change but also reunite the country, restore its “dignity” and make it a “truly sovereign and trustworthy ally.”
“I know how to do all this and we will do it together,” he added without elaborating.
Members of Karapetian’s family, who organized the demonstration, shed no further light on his plans. One of them only spoke of “the beginning of a long journey.”
Under Armenian law, Karapetian is not eligible to become prime minister because of his dual Russian nationality. But he can lead or sponsor a party even from behind the bars.
“A huge segment of society can unite around that [new] force,” said Elinar Vartanian, a parliament deputy from the main opposition Hayastan alliance. “Therefore, I think this will be a very serious and important step in politics.”
Vartanian said that the 59-year-old tycoon can win over the large number of voters who trust neither the government nor the mainstream opposition. According to some opinion polls, such disillusioned people make up the biggest percentage of the electorate.
Tigran Abrahamian, a senior member of the second parliamentary opposition force, Pativ Unem, similarly suggested that Karapetian is capable of forming what Armenian commentators call a “third force.” But that depends on “what political resources will be invested, what kind of planning will be done and what its targeted struggle will look like,” he said.
“Samvel Karapetian has that potential in terms of entering the fray. I think that is evident to many people,” Abrahamian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Both Abrahamian and Vartanian made clear that their respective blocs led by former Presidents Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian have not held any talks with Karapetian or his associates but are ready to cooperate with the latter.
“In case of the right strategy and the right teamwork, he has a chance to form the number one force,” said Edmon Marukian, a former Pashinian ally leading the opposition Bright Armenia party.
“We have studies showing that a very high percentage of Armenian citizens believe that he is being unjustly detained and politically persecuted,” added Marukian. “And there are also highly positive attitudes towards Samvel Karapetian.”
Karapetian had already issued about a dozen statements from his prison cell, lambasting Pashinian, predicting his imminent downfall and seemingly staking claim to power. He charged, in particular, that Pashinian has “completely destroyed the country's external security,” “ruined” its relations with Russia and is now shamefully begging the leaders of Azerbaijan and Turkey for peace.
Karapetian was prosecuted hours after condemning on June 17 Pashinian’s attempts to depose the top clergy of the Armenian Church and vowing to defend it “in our own way.” He and his lawyers deny the accusations levelled against him. Opposition leaders have also described the criminal case as politically motivated and linked it to Pashinian’s campaign against the clergy.
