If the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President submits his resignation, the National Assembly (NA) shall accept that resignation within three days and elect a new president within seven days. Metakse Hakobyan, the secretary of the opposition "Justice" Faction of the Artsakh NA, told about this to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Hakobyan added, however, that the Artsakh NA has the right not to accept the resignation of incumbent President Arayik Harutyunyan.

"However, about 80 people were present at the discussion lasting about six hours in the NA on August 29. He [i.e. Harutyunyan] announced that he will consult and inform about his decision, which means that during those two days he consulted with some circles, it is predictable that it is his political team. And I believe his political team, which is represented in the parliament, has already decided to accept it," she said.

Hakobyan noted that the resignation of Arayik Harutyunyan from the office of the President of Artsakh will have positive consequences because the current authorities of Artsakh are weak and unable to make decisions.

Asked whether Arayik Harutyunyan is submitting his resignation under the influence of pressure, the opposition lawmaker said: "There was no pressure on Arayik Harutyunyan as such in Artsakh. Internal or other pressures elsewhere are excluded. We, as a political force, did not go for it. Maybe there was pressure from society."

Metakse Hakobyan, commenting to the remark that Harutyunyan is stepping down to avoid accountability, said: "I believe there should be a change of player in Armenia as well, so that we can save the two Armenian states with greater momentum because it is difficult to say how Artsakh will be able to stand up and save the fate of 10 million Armenians with [just] 120 thousand [Artsakh] Armenians.”

As reported earlier, Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan announced that he will resign from office tomorrow.