Nikol Pashinyan issued a statement after his nomination.

After confirming his nomination as a majority constituency candidate, the editor-in-chief of the opposition daily Haykakan Zhamanak, Nikol Pashinyan, issued a statement, highlighting his goals and objectives of joining the parliament campaign and promising to assist in the creation of a better country in case of being elected.

“My nomination in this constituency stems from the logic of my political activity within the [opposition] Armenian National Congress and beyond, from the obligations I voiced in front of the people on Liberty Square, and the further logic of the nationwide movement to struggle For a Free and Happy Armenia here and now,” reads the statement.

The activist stresses the importance of enabling a people to build a better country on their own.

“I do believe that a politician’s mission is not just changing something, but rather promoting changes. It is not building a homeland, but rather enabling [people] to build one, not granting freedom, but rather paving way to freedom to the benefit of each citizen, and the nation which represents the collective image of citizens. To me, that is the mission of any National Assembly candidate listed on the ANC’s majority or proportional ballots (including myself) – to nominate oneself as an alternative to the prejudiced despair and the despaired prejudice,” the activist said.

Pashinyan was jailed after the March 2008 post-electoral turmoil that left at least ten people dead and a number of others wounded in capital Yerevan. He was released from prison in May 2011. The activist nominated his candidacy in the majority constituency No. 7 yesterday afternoon.