Leader of protests Pashinyan became premier of Armenia: what’s next - ForumDaily
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Leader of protests Pashinyan became premier of Armenia: what’s next

The leader of the protest movement in Armenia, deputy of the opposition bloc “Yelk” Nikol Pashinyan became prime minister - his candidacy was supported by the majority of parliament members. What team will he work with and what will he do first? Air force.

Photo: TASS

"Thank you. I serve Armenia and the Armenian people,” Pashinyan addressed parliament after the vote.

Acting Prime Minister of Armenia Karapetyan resigned and congratulated Pashinyan on his election. The premiere should be approved by the President of Armenia Armen Sargsyan. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a congratulatory telegram to Pashinyan.

De facto power ended up in the hands of the oppositionist even earlier - having raised almost the entire country in protest, Pashinyan forced the ruling party to support his election as prime minister, and without yet receiving the post, he declared May 8 a day off.

Pashinyan elected on the second try. 59 deputies voted for his candidacy, with the required minimum of 53 votes. Against - 42. There were no other candidates for the post of prime minister.

On May 1, the ruling Republican Party refused to support the opposition’s candidacy, and it won only 45 votes. If Pashinyan and now did not collect the majority, would have to dissolve the parliament.

As said in an interview Russian service BBC Khosrov Harutyunyan, the former prime minister of Armenia and a member of the Republican faction, the ruling party decided to give power for the sake of maintaining stability in the country.

Since April 13 in Armenia passed rallies, provoked by the statement of ex-President Serzh Sargsyan of the intention to run for the post of prime minister. The parliament, in spite of many thousands of opposition rallies, elected Sargsyan as head of government, but on April X Sargsyan resigned on April 9 against the background of ongoing protests.

Photo facebook.com/butusov.yuriy

Then the Republican Party didn’t give the oppositionist 1 of May, and already Pashinyan’s supporters staged a strikeby blocking the main highways and paralyzing traffic throughout the country. After that, the Republicans said they would support the opposition candidate on the repeat 8 vote in May.

Who is in Pashinyan's team

In the near future, Pashinyan will have to form his own government. “There will be significant changes,” Pashinyan told reporters after the vote.

The lack of a team from which the cabinet might be assembled was one of the main complaints of the Republican Party in Pashinyan.

With a high probability of getting into the government of the new prime minister, both people from the environment of the oppositionist, and officials who worked under the previous government, said Bi-bi-si Pashinyan's associates.

Nikola Pashinyan. Photo: news.day.az

The candidate for prime minister himself, speaking in parliament, said that after his election he would not engage in a “personnel pogrom” in the public administration system.

“We are confident that there are many talented people in the country’s public administration system. Not only are we not preparing for a personnel pogrom, but we intend to concentrate the best potential for the benefit of Armenia. We rely on those people in the state system who have achieved success thanks to their talent,” the politician said.

“We will change only some of the people”

“Pashinyan’s team is made up of people with experience in protest activities, and among them there are no people who have experience in administrative work,” says political scientist Alexander Iskandryan. “But the government will be formed from people of different political backgrounds, more or less from different circles: some from the old government, some from the new.”

One example of such continuity is the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, David Tonoyan. According to the BBC, he may receive a post in the new government. It is possible that he will head the Ministry of Defense.

“He has nothing in common with the [protest] movement, but he is a very decent and decent person,” says Tigran Avinyan, press secretary of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, about him. “He is now the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and we have a very positive attitude towards him.”

“We clearly announced that there will be no total layoffs, all professionals who worked before this [revolution] will continue to work,” agrees member of the “Civil Contract” Ruben Rubenyan. According to him, the opposition will form a “government of national unity” - posts will be given not only to Pashinyan’s party members, but also to representatives of other political forces.

“A new team will come to the top,” Rubenyan promised at the same time. He himself is ready to join the new government “if Pashinyan proposes.”

“We are thinking of attracting people both from Armenia and from the diaspora,” Lena Nazaryan, a member of parliament from Pashinyan’s party, told the BBC. “If Nikol Pashinyan offers some position, then I will take on this responsibility.”

A fellow member of the opposition is interested in the sphere of education, ecology, social protection. However, Nazaryan herself would like to continue working in the parliament.

The press secretary of the “Civil Contract” also declared his readiness to join the new government: “We already need to take political responsibility and start working in this field.”

Armenian author Telegram- channel “Bagramyan, 26” (named after the address of the office of the President of Armenia in Yerevan) suggests that Pashinyan’s colleague in the “Yelk” bloc in parliament, Artak Zeynalyan, will most likely also receive positions in the government. He has experience in civil service: from 1998 to 2001, Zeynalyan worked as Deputy Minister of Health.

Zeynalyan himself told the BBC that he had not yet been offered a job in the government and that he “hadn’t thought about it yet.” “We will decide this together with the party,” Zeynalyan added.

In the new cabinet there will be many representatives of civil society, for example, a former employee of the Armenian branch. Transparency International, political scientist and opposition activist Armen Grigoryan, suggested the author of the channel “Bagramyan, 26”.

Grigoryan told the BBC that he hadn’t received any job offers, but he would be ready to head the economic bloc. However, at first he would like to work in the CEC: back in Transparency Grigoryan and his colleagues prepared a reform of the electoral code and the law on parties.

He also stated that Pashinyan’s associates will not force all employees of the old government to resign: “We will change only some of the people in several positions. We will change the rules of the game and it will create positivity.”

Levon Barseghyan, head of the Gyumri journalistic club, expects the resignation of the top forces. For example, the investigating authorities, the prosecutor, the heads of the national security service and the special investigations service for special cases. The latter, he said, brought charges against 67 people participating in the 2018 spring protests of the year.

“They must leave and then they must be punished,” he is sure. “The likelihood that the new prime minister will remove all these people from their positions is high.”

What will they do

Before being elected prime minister, Pashinyan repeatedly called his goal to hold new parliamentary elections. According to his plans, they should pass as early as September, says a familiar politician.

That is, probably, the Pashinyan government will not live long. However, another interlocutor of the BBC believes that the Pashinyan team lays a year on the preparation of the elections.

The new prime minister's associates unanimously call the election of parliament under new laws the main goal of their work. "The first step will be to work on a new electoral code and a law on parties," Transparency's Grigoryan told the BBC. “There will be changes in the Central Election Commission.”

The Electoral Code was changed just a year ago - in April 2017, elections were held in the republic for the first time using a proportional system. At that time, Serzh Sargsyan’s party won, and the opposition accused the authorities of falsifications.

President Serzh Sargsyan. Photo RIA News

“Our government program will not be based on five years, it is a program for several months,” said Rubinyan, an ally of the elected prime minister, also noting that elections are a top priority.

“The very first thing that needs to be done is to free the educational system from politics, from party power, we have a nightmare with this. The next thing is to change the electoral code,” said the head of the Gyumri journalist club Barseghyan.

Another pressing problem is import monopolies, which are believed to be concentrated in the hands of businessmen close to Sargsyan.

Pashinyan’s first steps as prime minister “may be very original,” promised his ally Nazaryan: “When we participated in the parliamentary elections in 2017, he said that he needed only 45 minutes so that there would be no monopoly on the import of bananas and sugar sand."

Samvel Aleksanyan's Alex Group imports sugar, as well as butter and vegetable oil. The import of bananas is controlled by Mihran Poghosyan’s Katherine Group. The latter, however, denies that he is engaged in business. Aleksanyan and Poghosyan are deputies from the Republican Party.

The main thing is corruption

Corruption is the third topic that all Pashinyan’s associates talk about. “People expect justice and economic development, they are tired of a corrupt system,” Transparency’s Grigoryan emphasized.

“People are waiting for change, people are waiting for justice, and we will bring it,” Rubenyan promised, also calling the main points of the program the fight against corruption, changes in the judicial system and the fight against shadow business.

Pashinyan himself, before being elected in parliament, said that he would not reject the reforms and programs of the previous government: “If there are no doubts, they will be continued, programs that raise doubts will be put up for discussion again. If they are found to be ineffective, they will be discontinued.”

Karabakh question

Pashinyan, speaking in parliament on Tuesday, also stated that Armenia is ready for a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict and negotiations on this issue.

“We are ready for a peaceful solution to the problem based on the equality of peoples and self-determination. It is necessary to give new impetus to international recognition of Artsakh’s independence, and the role of the diaspora is great in this,” the politician said.

“I am ready for negotiations with the leader of Azerbaijan within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. But negotiations cannot be effective and complete without the participation of the party to the conflict - Karabakh,” he added.

And after the election, Pashinyan announced that 9 May will go to Karabakh. The leadership of Armenia traditionally visits the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic on this day and participates in the celebration of Victory Day.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Who is Nikol Pashinyan: five facts about the leader of the 'Velvet Revolution' in Armenia

'Victory, shame, real democracy' - Armenians from the diaspora about events in their homeland

From Charles Aznavour to Kim Kardashian: what do Armenian celebrities think of the 'Velvet Revolution'

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