YEREVAN. – Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s resignation was the triumph of newly appointed PM Hovik Abrahamyan, Haykakan Zhamanak daily reported.

“By appointing Hovik Abrahamyan PM, [President] Serzh Sargsyan designated him [as his] political heir.  

“It has long been discussed that Hovik Abrahamyan is in internal games with [Prosperous Armenia Party leader, oligarch, and his in-law] Gagik Tsarukyan and [second President] Robert Kocharyan.  

“Now, Serzh Sargsyan, by announcing that he will no longer seek the office of the President, designated Hovik Abrahamyan [as] the next leader [of Armenia].

“While in the past it was assumed that Abrahamyan, allied with the Tsarukyan-Kocharyan duo, will fight to take the power from Serzh Sargsyan at the last moment, Serzh Sargsyan removed himself out of the struggle for power. He thus tossed the battle into the Tsarukyan-Kocharyan-Abrahamyan trio. Now, they will fight against each other to be the heir to the power.   

“Serzh Sargsyan is inwardly convinced that this trio will be unable to share the power, and [therefore it] will return to him,” Haykakan Zhamanak wrote.

On April 3, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan submitted his resignation to President Serzh Sargsyan, and the President accepted the resignation. And on April 13, President Sargsyan appointed now former National Assembly Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan as Prime Minister of Armenia.