Artur Vanetsyan, head of the opposition parliamentary faction "I Have Honour," leader of the Fatherland Party, and former director of the National Security Service of Armenia, announced on June 21 that he had decided to give up his MP mandate.
“For many of you, my decision did not come as a surprise: I have publicly stated several times that I no longer see myself in this parliament. The reason is obvious: the citizens of Armenia gave us the right to stop the destructive activities of these authorities and lead the country out of the crisis. However, the current parliament, in my opinion, has ceased to be an effective platform for achieving this goal,” the opposition politician said. According to him, the Council of the Fatherland party decided to continue its activities outside the walls of parliament. Vanetsyan thanked all the deputies of the opposition factions for their cooperation and the path traveled. At the same time, he stressed that his colleagues could remain in parliament, and his decision does not oblige them to resign from their parliamentary mandates.
"Today, we can lose our homeland and have no right to make a mistake. The fight has no alternative. As I have repeatedly noted, in the struggle for the Armenian people, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh there are no party flags, dividing lines, and statuses. This is our national struggle, and we, members of the Fatherland Party, will continue it together with our people," Artur Vanetsyan said in a statement.
Ex-lawmaker Armen Ashotyan from the former Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has said they share the same strategic goals with the opposition forces. However, the parties, including the RPA, can come up with different tactical solutions.
In response to Vanetsyan's choice, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, the deputy speaker of parliament and a member of the opposition Armenia bloc, noted that everyone chooses their own political stance. "We all have different plans for getting there, but we all share a single objective," he remarked.
Before joining the opposition, Vanetsyan was a close ally of Pashinyan and played a crucial role in his government, leading the National Security Service from 2018 to 2019. Vanetsyan resigned from his post in circumstances that remain murky. In the immediate aftermath of the signing of a ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan in November 2020, Vanetsyan was arrested on two occasions, the first on charges of "illegal conduct of rallies" and the second on allegations of "usurping power." In each case, the court ruled that Vanetsyan's arrest was unlawful and released him from detention. In legislative elections last year, the I Have Honour alliance, led by Vanetsyan, entered parliament with about 5% of the vote, netting seven seats in the 107-member body.
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