The revolution in Armenia: the date of the election of a new prime minister and the continuation of protests

The new Prime Minister of Armenia can be elected at a special meeting of the parliament, which is scheduled for 1 May, the website of the National Assembly of the country reports. It has not yet been decided who exactly will be nominated for this position, but protests in the country continue, writes Air force.

On Wednesday, local journalists, citing anonymous sources, argued that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia would nominate Karen Karapetyan for the post of Prime Minister, who is already temporarily serving as head of government. This information was soon disproved.

However, local media claim that Karapetyan will replace Serzh Sargsyan as leader of the Republican Party, who announced his resignation on Thursday. In this case, the party can really nominate Karapetyan as prime minister - and it will have enough votes to approve his candidacy.

Protests and tardiness

In this regard, mass protests that started last week due to the fact that Sargsyan, who twice held the presidency of the country, and have briefly subsided after his resignation, are gaining momentum in Armenia again.

Sargasyan and Pashinyan. Photo: TASS

At the end of the second term of Sargsyan, a constitutional reform took place in Armenia, turning it from a presidential republic into a parliamentary one. At that time, Sargsyan promised that he would not qualify for the post of prime minister after he completed his second and last presidential term.

However, in the end, Sargsyan was nevertheless promoted to prime minister and was approved in this position by the parliamentary faction of the Republican Party. This provoked mass protests that lasted several days. After this, Sargsyan resigned.

However, protesters demand to go further and elect a new prime minister not a person from the ruling party, but a national candidate. At a rally on Wednesday, it was decided that such a candidate would be opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, who would lead the protest.

Pashinyan himself previously stated that the accomplished resignation of Serzh Sargsyan is only the beginning and only one of the goals of the movement. This should be followed by the election of a representative from the people as the country's Prime Minister, the formation of an interim government and the holding of early parliamentary elections.

According to the oppositionist, the person who should be directly supported by the people should become the prime minister, and not the one whom the ruling Republican Party itself will appoint due to the presence of a parliamentary majority. Many protesters with Pashinyan agree.

Large-scale protests in Yerevan resumed on Wednesday, shortly after it became known that the meeting planned for that day between Karapetyan and Pashinyan would not take place. Karapetyan cited the reason for canceling the meeting as Pashinyan putting forward new demands that would turn the negotiations into his benefit.

Photo: news.am

Thousands of people immediately responded to Pashinyan’s call to continue the actions. Noisy processions, which were accompanied by dancing, as well as blocking the streets, began in the early morning of Wednesday. Protesters blocked car traffic in the capital and beyond.

On Thursday, activists advocating the appointment of Pashinyan’s prime minister decided to block the work of state institutions and block roads.

Because of this, Pashinyan himself was briefly late for the beginning of the protest action and asked for a short time to unblock the roads. In the future, he promised to change tactics of protest actions a little, but he didn’t specify how this tactic would change.

Incomplete victory

“Of course, I see in him [Pashinyan] the potential of a strong leader. He is charismatic, he was able to raise so many people, this is probably the most important thing,” says Gor Melikbekyan, who together with his wife came to the rally on Republic Square.

“He [Pashinyan] can pull it all off. Well, we wish, in any case, that he would pull it off,” says another participant in the action, Mikael Sargsyan.

Sargsyan, like many of the protesters, says that despite Sargsyan's resignation, the main demand of the protesters - a change of government - has not yet been fulfilled. According to him, the election of a people's candidate as prime minister is one of the main requirements and key conditions for bringing the “velvet revolution” to its logical conclusion.

“The Republican Party is now dominant, they have all the power now, we want them to no longer dominate Armenia. When Serzh Sargsyan left, a representative from his party sat in his place. What's the point, what's the difference then? - says Sargsyan.

On Thursday it became known that several high-ranking officials from Armenia arrived in Moscow for negotiations. Commenting on this information, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia and Armenia “have great relations,” which requires “frequent visits and contacts.”

On Thursday, Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandyan met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, confirmed the representative of the Ministry, Maria Zakharova, and acting. Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan held meetings in the administration of the Russian president, as reported by the press service of the Armenian government.

According to Peskov, Russia hopes that the Armenian authorities will establish constructive contacts with the protesters, which will help to find a compromise solution to the current situation. Earlier in the Kremlin, they noted that they consider the mass protests in Armenia as its internal affair and do not intend to interfere.

In the evening, President Vladimir Putin talked on the phone with Karapetyan.

"The People's Chosen"

In the ruling party, which has the majority of seats in the current parliament, they promised to present a position on the candidate for prime minister in the near future. At the same time, against the backdrop of thousands of protests that swept the capital, the authorities are talking about the need for dialogue.

Earlier, Karapetyan addressed the President of Armenia with a request to organize a meeting of political forces to discuss the current situation and possible cooperation “up to the holding of early parliamentary elections.”

Speaking at a briefing on Wednesday, Karapetyan said that if political parties decide that there is a need for extraordinary elections, they should determine the timing of preparation for the elections, so that everyone is on equal footing.

Speaking about the election of a candidate for prime minister in the square, he noted that the people's candidate is determined in the elections, and not in the squares. “By what criterion do we say that he is the chosen one of the people? The only criterion is elections, there are no others,” Karapetyan said.

Pashinyan later clarified that he was not proposing to elect a prime minister at a protest rally - his proposal implied that on Republic Square the people would decide who to nominate for prime minister, and voting on the candidate would take place, as expected, in parliament.

At the same time, in his opinion, representatives of the ruling party should also support the national candidate for prime minister, if they do not want to continue the events of all the last days in Armenia.

“The RPA must understand that it will not be possible to deceive the people and replace one party member as prime minister with another. The RPA is no longer the power in the country, power in Armenia belongs to the people and this needs to be consolidated,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan’s candidacy was nominated by the parliamentary opposition faction “Yelk” (“Exodus”), which he heads. In order to become prime minister, he needs to receive the support of 53 deputies out of 105. At the same time, 58 seats in parliament are controlled by the ruling Republican Party.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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

Revolution in Armenia: what happened to the most powerful man of the country

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

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