The parliamentary elections held on June 7 were completely failed and rigged. Leader of the Strong Armenia bloc, businessman and philanthropist Samvel Karapetyan, told this to members of the media Friday.

“Elections are not held under conditions of oppression and intimidation. Our 780 coordinators have been arrested in the provinces,” Karapetyan added. He noted that the Strong Armenia bloc has petitioned to the Central Electoral Commission, and then will petition also to the Constitutional Court.

The demand is to hold a second round of parliamentary elections. “Our task is not to be represented in parliament, but to remove [PM Nikol] Pashinyan [from power],” Karapetyan stated. When asked how to do this—whether in parliament or on the street, the politician considered both options possible. In the case of the street version, he did not single out any leader, only noting that everyone suffered from Pashinyan's election campaign politics, and therefore everyone will participate.

"If they are smart enough, if Pashinyan is confident in his victory, then they will agree to our conditions; we propose a second round [parliamentary elections]. The illegitimate authorities are creating huge risks for the country," the politician stated, assessing the statements about vote buying as nonsense.

At the same time, if the information about vote buying is confirmed, then its organizers and executors deserve strict condemnation, Karapetyan noted. To the question about his willingness to go all the way, Karapetyan noted that if they wanted to, they could have gone all the way on the very first day, but they did not do so because they wanted to act in a legal way.

"We make our own decisions, and we do not interfere in the decisions of others. Our goal is to remove Nikol Pashinyan from power in a legal way," Karapetyan said. “Pashinyan did not win [the parliamentary elections], they know it, we know it; the world sees it, too. Armenia must have legitimate authorities. We did not win. Pashinyan did not win either. The Armenian people lost,” Samvel Karapetyan concluded.