Mass demonstrations continue in Armenia against the current government. The nomination of former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan as Prime Minister caused massive protests since he had served as president of the country for a decade. And before that, he held different positions in the government.
People started the rallies on April 13, on April 14 Serzh Sargsyan was elected as Prime Minister by the Parliament. The mass protests continued. They were held not only in capital Yerevan but also other towns and villages of Armenia. Serzh Sargsyan resigned on April 23. That fact did not stop demonstrations and protesters demanded people’s candidate (the person who will be elected in the Republic Square of Yerevan by the public) to be elected as a PM of the country.
Prime Minister of Armenia is elected by the Parliament of the country. There are four factions in Armenia’s Parliament: Republican – 58 seats, Tsarukyan alliance – 31 seats, Yelq – 9 seats and Armenian Revolutionary Federation – 7 seats. Overall 105 seats.
According to the Constitution of Armenia article 149
2. In case the Prime Minister submits a resignation or in other cases of the office of the Prime Minister becoming vacant, the factions of the National Assembly shall be entitled to nominate candidates for Prime Minister within a period of seven days after accepting the resignation of the Government. The National Assembly shall elect the Prime Minister by majority of votes of the total number of Deputies.
3. In case Prime Minister is not elected, a new election of Prime Minister shall be held seven days after voting, wherein the candidates for Prime Minister nominated by at least one third of the total number of Deputies shall be entitled to participate. In case Prime Minister is not elected by majority of votes of the total number of Deputies, the National Assembly shall be dissolved by virtue of law.
4. The election of the Prime Minister shall be held by roll-call voting.
The election of Prime Minister will be debated on May 1. Republican faction will not nominate a candidate for Prime Minister’s position. The speaker of the party Eduard Sharmazanov announced that they will decide for which candidate Republican faction will vote.
Members of Tsarukyan alliance faction were announcing that they probably will have their own candidate for the PM’s position, the leader of the party, oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan. But the latter announced that his candidacy will not be nominated and he will support Nikol Pashinyan.
“Yelq” faction decided to nominate the MP, leader of the movement Nikol Pashinyan as PM. And Armenian Revolutionary Federation has already stated that they are ready to vote for Nikol Pashinyan.
That is to say, Nikol Pashinyan is the only candidate for Prime Minister’s position. And if Tsarukyan alliance, Yelq, and ARF will vote for him, he will receive 47 votes. But in that case, he will not receive the majority of votes, stated by the Constitution. Consequently, the votes of the Republican faction are decisive.
And if Republican faction decides not to vote for Pashinyan, he will not be elected and Parliament of Armenia shall be dissolved, new elections of Prime Minister will be held and they will be held by the Republican party.
