Glendale mayor Zareh Sinanyan will arrive in Yerevan to share “the historic moment” with the Armenian nation as the country’s parliament is set to elect a new prime minister after weeks of peaceful protests.
“In the current situation, Diaspora Armenians had given up on Armenia,” Sinanyan said in an interview with the Voice of America.
“That was a negative phenomenon but such a state of mind will change here too.”
“While I have no official mission, I will of course got to Armenia to be there for my compatriots on that historic moment,” Sinanyan said, adding that he would not expect such a turn of events in Armenia.
A campaign against the Armenian authorities was in full swing across Yerevan and the rest of the republic for several weeks and got even stronger after the parliament failed to elect opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country’s new prime minister on May 1.
The founder and head of Civil Contract party and lawmaker from the Yelk bloc, Pashinyan leads the street campaign against the ruling authorities, which has seen thousands of Armenians taking to the streets in massive protests in the past several weeks.
Former prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was forced to resign on April 23, and Pashinyan is now seeking the appointment as prime minister by the National Assembly of what he calls “the people’s candidate”, – i.e. himself – the formation of an interim government and snap parliamentary elections.
Pashinyan has promised to rid Armenia of corruption and poverty.
Demonstrations have been halted since May 3 after the ruling Republican party of Armenia pledged to support Pashinyan’s candidacy.