As part of political consultations with extra-parliamentary political forces, Nikol Pashinyan met with Samvel Babayan, who headed the Liberal Party’s electoral list.

Nikol Pashinian – Dear Mr. Babayan, I am happy to see you. I followed your activity as much as I could during the electoral campaign, and I sincerely regret that your political force did not cross the threshold necessary to get into parliament. I have initiated today’s meeting to hear your views on upcoming political developments, on the formats in which we could cooperate with the extra-parliamentary opposition.

Samvel Babayan – Thank you. First of all, I would like to congratulate you, your party as you are assuming great responsibility. A better future needs to be built in Armenia, and we cherish high hopes that you will promote development and security in the country.

I congratulated the other two parties, too, because we must be united in this situation. This is just a calling for us. Everyone should give up ambitions and try to cooperate for the sake of our statehood and future.

First, I do believe that internal stability will help us solve big problems if we all realize and understand that the national interests should prevail over anything else. Second, we presented our point of view during the preceding political campaign. I wish to highlight some fundamental political issues: the Constitution and the law form the basis thereof. Our political team believes that the turmoil comes from an imperfect and ambiguous legal framework. This is a serious problem and I am asking you to pay greater attention to it in the future.

We must strengthen the state, so that people could put their positive energy at the service of our statehood. No one is safeguarded against the evil power, so we must limit it by laws, by legislation, so that it does not hinder us any longer.

I say again, I am sincerely glad – no matter what percentage we received, what happened, how it happened – that the people had their decisive say. This is how they see the future, and they made their choice accordingly. We should all welcome this fact and try to be as helpful as possible all the way through this process.

The interlocutors discussed issues of consolidation of potential and opportunities, as well as prospects for further cooperation.