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The current authorities of Armenia must be thrown out before the conduct of snap parliamentary elections in the country, the candidate of the opposition Homeland Salvation Movement for a caretaker prime minister, Vazgen Manukyan, said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a rally in the town of Sevan, the opposition leader again accused the authorities of mishandling the recent 44-day war in Artsakh, which led to thousands of casualties.

Despite the numerous shortcomings after independence, Armenia also had victories during the past decades, Manukyan stated.

“As many as 5,000 peoples in the world seek to have independence, but there are only 200 independent states and we are one of them. We managed to build an army that proved the most efficient in Transcaucasia. We were able to take back the part of our homeland which is called Artsakh. However, after the 44 days of war, I have no answer to citizens,” he said.

According to Vazgen Manukyan, this is not a bad government that needs to be replaced through elections, but the hearts of people should be full of hatred toward them: “They have destroyed our homeland and continue to do it. The only way is to throw them out through the people’s efforts,” he said, adding it will help restore the people’s lost dignity and show the future generations that “we never tolerate an act of treachery”.

He expressed confidence that the snap elections slated for June 20 will bring nothing good to Armenia.

“We believe that the current government must be ousted, afterwards an interim government needs to be formed, during which the country will calm down, we will see what further steps we will take, some things will be restored, then elections will be held and the people will decide who to follow,” Manukyan said.