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Armenia's opposition intends to prevent Pashinyan's participation in 2026 elections

Leader of the opposition Sacred Struggle movement Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan stated that the PM doesn't have the courage to run in the elections

YEREVAN, December 27. /TASS/. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, the leader of the opposition Sacred Struggle movement, has said the opposition will prevent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from participating in the country's next elections to be held in 2026.

"I don't consider his activity on social media as pre-election campaigning. First of all, he doesn't have the courage to run in the elections. And secondly, we will not give him a chance. There is no such mood or wish. Our assessments diverge in this regard. As for pre-election preparation and everything else, may they try," Galstanyan told a news conference in Yerevan, when asked whether Pashinyan's active social networking should be seen as preparation for elections.

The protests, led by Archbishop Galstanyan, the head of the Tavush diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, began after reports that Baku and Yerevan had agreed to delimit a section of the border in the Tavush Region. In fact, Yerevan agreed to hand over to Baku four villages that had been part of the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic and remained under Armenian control since the 1990s. The Sacred Struggle movement demands the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for unilaterally transferring this territory to Azerbaijan.

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