Tsarukian indicated that he is negotiating with unnamed political groups and individuals interested in entering into an electoral alliance with him. He gave no details, saying only that the alliance will champion his “Proposal to Armenia” platform.
“I think, communicate, discuss different areas with different specialists,” he told reporters. “Today in Armenia, there is no single person, no party, that can get our country out of this situation. There must be a discussion, a consolidation. They don’t have to be party members.”
Tsarukian is the founding leader of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) that had the second largest group in the country’s former parliament. It challenged Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and demanded his resignation even before the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Tsarukian was charged with vote buying and arrested in September 2020 just days before the outbreak of the war. The BHK leader, who rejected the accusations as politically motivated, was freed on bail one month later.
Like other opposition groups, the BHK blamed Pashinian for Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war and tried to topple him. It failed to win any parliament seats in snap general elections held in June 2021. Tsarukian has kept a low profile since then.
The 68-year-old tycoon appears to have already cut a pre-election deal with one small opposition party, Democratic Alternative. It is led by Suren Sureniants, a veteran politician and commentator highly critical of Pashinian.
“We will participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections as a united team,” Sureniants told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday.
Sureniants suggested that other opposition parties could also join the Tsarukian-led bloc but did not name them.