YEREVAN. – Legally, it is not problematic that Prime Minister of Armenia, Karen Karapetyan, continue in office after the parliamentary election in 2017.

Minister of Justice, Arpine Hovhannisyan, on Saturday told about the aforesaid to reporters, when asked whether Karapetyan can remain in office, under the amended Constitution.

“If the RPA [i.e. the ruling Republican Party of Armenia] gets the opportunity to form a government after the elections, Karen Karapetyan will be their [PM] candidate,” said Hovhannisyan.

As for what will happen after 2018—when the incumbent President’s term in office will come to an end, the minister stated that the parliamentary majority will form its own government; and if this were to be the RPA, Karen Karapetyan will be nominated as PM.

And to the remark that, under the amended constitution, one first needs to be elected MP in order to be nominated PM, but one has to permanently reside in Armenia for the past four to five years to be able to run for a parliamentary seat, Arpine Hovhannisyan responded: “It’s not that you need to be elected MP so that later you [can] become [PM]. But there are certain requirements, and the competent state authority shall assess their compliance.”