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Armenian MP Hayk Mamijanyan from the opposition With Honor bloc on Wednesday shared his undelivered speech included in the verbatim of the PACE plenary session on Monday, September 27. The speech referred to the report on the snap elections held in Armenia in June.

The full text of his statement is provided below.

"Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

All of us are politicians here but I bet that any of you has ever thought that hammer can be a tool for political debate. Well “the hammer” was the main tool for the leader of the ruling party during his campaign for the early elections held in Armenia back then in June 2021. And I am not speaking figuratively. Nikol Pashinyan was rallying in all regions of Armenia shaking a hammer above his head. “…the hammer, first of all, will be broken on your head…” he said speaking about those who were supporting the opposition. These elections had nothing to the with the core values of democracy. As you can see the definition “…competitive and generally well-managed…” used in the report is not the best choice of wording for the election held under the hammer. Such wording sends a very bad and dangerous signal to those authorities of member states who are willing to conduct unfair elections. The silence of international organizations led to the physical usage of “hammer”. One of the local authorities supporting the opposition was beaten in the office of the governor. Everyone in Armenia knows about it but the security cameras were mysteriously broken. The process goes on even with the sitting members of parliament: one of my colleagues Mr. Armen Gevorgyan an oppositional member of the Armenian Parliament, member of the Armenian delegation was not allowed to attend the PACE session because of politically driven criminal charges. In fact, the almost 60% of the oppositional members of parliament are prohibited to leave the country.

Today, the 27th of September, is a sad day for my country. A year ago on this day Azerbaijan with the support of Turkey unleashed war against the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. A war against peaceful people. A war with the usage of mercenaries from Middle East and restricted weapons. A war that led to partial occupation of Nagorno Karabakh and ethnic cleansings.

Some authorities try to present the outcome of the early parliamentary elections in Armenia as a sign of justification of the results of the 44-day war between Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh. As a representative of my country to PACE I am obliged to state the belief of all Armenians: the status of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic based on the right of self-determination of its people and de-occupation of the territories of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is inevitable."