Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was not elected Prime Minister at Wednesday’s special session of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia.

No MP voted for his respective candidacy, eleven lawmakers voted against it, and one legislator abstained.

As reported earlier, the “Way Out” (Yelk) Faction had nominated acting PM Nikol Pashinyan’s candidacy to this office, whereas the other factions had nominated no candidates.

But at the same time, Yelk had asked all MPs not to vote for Pashinyan so that the parliament can be dissolved a week later—on October 31, when a PM is not elected yet again. In case of such a scenario, a snap parliamentary election will be conducted in the first half of December.

 

Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group will visit Armenia next week.

Anna Naghdalyan, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Armenia, informed the above-said at Wednesday’s press briefing.

Earlier it was reported that the objective of this trip is to prepare for a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, in December.

The mediators plan to visit Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) and Azerbaijan as well.

 

Serviceman Hayk Sargsyan has received a gun wound from the shot fired from the Azerbaijani side at about 12.10 p.m. local time on October 23 in one of the south-eastern units of the Artsakh’s Defense Army.

The wounded serviceman was transported to hospital. The doctors assess his condition satisfactory.

Investigation  is underway to reveal the circumstances of the case.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin plan to meet in Paris next month, officials said on Tuesday, their first encounter since a summit in Helsinki that unleashed a storm of criticism that Trump was cosying up to the Kremlin, Reuters reported.

 

After a meeting in Moscow between Putin and Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, officials on both sides said a preliminary agreement on a Nov. 11 meeting in the French capital had been reached, and that detailed arrangements were under way.

 

A large concert dedicated to Charles Aznavour will be held in Paris.

The President of Armenia, Armen Sarkissian, stated the aforesaid in an interview on the air of RTS television of Switzerland.

Sarkissian informed that he has reached an agreement with French President Emmanuel Macron, and with respect to organizing a charity concert devoted to Aznavour.

As per the Armenian President, the event will probably take place in October 2019, and numerous musicians will be invited to perform at this concert.

Legendary French Armenian artist Charles Aznavour passed away on October 1, aged 94.

 

US Presidential National Security Adviser John Bolton will pay a visit to Armenia on Thursday.

Anna Naghdalyan, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, stated the aforesaid at Wednesday’s press briefing.

She added that within the framework of this trip, Bolton is scheduled to meet separately with Armenia’s acting prime minister, defense and foreign ministers, as well as with the National Security Council secretary.

This is the largest US delegation to visit Armenia over the past several years.