Armenian Opposition Vows to Block Pashinyan's 2026 Election Bid

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, head of the opposition Sacred Struggle movement, declared that the opposition will prevent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from running in Armenia's 2026 elections, The Caspian Post reports, citing TASS.

"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.