YEREVAN. –The Republicans have decided to thwart the Prime Minister’s election.
PM candidate, opposition movement leader, Civil Contract Party Political Council member, and National Assembly (NA) of Armenia “Way Out” (Yelk) Faction head Nikol Pashinyan stated the aforesaid in a video message on Facebook.
He called on people to go out to the streets.
Also, Pashinyan noted that they will assemble on Tuesday at 11am at Republic Square, the heart of Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan.
The NA on Tuesday will convene a special session to debate and then vote on the next PM of Armenia. Pashinyan is the sole candidate nominated for this position.
On Monday morning, the Yelk faction held a meeting and nominated Nikol Pashinyan its candidate for the next PM of Armenia.
Also on the same day, closed-door negotiations were conducted with the MPs of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party and the “Tsarukyan” Factions. These factions announced that will vote for Pashinyan.
In addition, a talk was held—in the presence of the media—with the deputies of the NA faction of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), and Pashinyan responded to the questions of these MPs.
The RPA, Tsarukyan, Way Out, and ARF factions have 58, 31, 9 and 7 seats, respectively, in parliament.
At least 53 votes are needed to elect the new Prime Minister of Armenia.
After 11-day nationwide protest actions by the Nikol Pashinyan-led movement, ex-President and RPA leader Serzh Sargsyan resigned from his recently-elected post of Prime Minister, on April 23.
Subsequently, Pashinyan announced that they will continue negotiations with the incumbent authorities on April 25, and toward achieving a smooth transfer of power in Armenia. But it became clear on the evening of April 24 that this talk would not take place.
Acting PM and RPA Vice Chairman Karen Karapetyan stated that Pashinyan had posited new, unilateral demands.
Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, announced that they are resuming their protests as of April 25, since the RPA wants to retain power at the expense of Sargsyan’s resignation.
And on April 26, Pashinyan invited Karapetyan to start the second round of negotiations on April 27, and before the media.
But Aram Araratyan, the spokesperson of Karen Karapetyan, issued a statement on April 27, according to which the acting PM considers “negotiations” with Nikol Pashinyan viewless, and therefore he refused to take part.
And on April 29, civil disobedience actions resumed after a two-day break.
