10:50, 25 April 2018

Karen Karapetyan proposes holding elections amid new protests in Armenia

Nikol Pashinyan talks with policemen. Photo by Tigran Petrosyan for the Caucasian Knot.

In response to the proposal voiced by the acting Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the protest movement in Armenia, has called on people to boycott the early parliamentary elections and resume protests.

On April 23, Serzh Sargsyan, a former President, who had been elected by the MPs to the post of Prime Minister only six days before, announced his resignation. He explained that he was fulfilling the opposition's demand.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that a meeting of Karen Karapetyan with MP Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the "Civil Contract" Party, was cancelled on April 24, since, according to Nikol Pashinyan, Karen Karapetyan failed to meet the requirements on the format of the meeting. Karen Karapetyan accused Nikol Pashinyan of disrupting the talks.

Today, the acting Prime Minister of Armenia has proposed to hold the early parliamentary elections. Karen Karapetyan has stated that the Prime Minister of Armenia "can only be elected in the parliament, but not in the street."

In his turn, Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of the protest movement, has said that in the conditions when the Republican Party preserves its power, "the outcome of new, early elections is quite predictable."

The oppositionist has called on people for "total disobedience and resumption of protest actions." "And all polling stations should be blocked in case if the Republican Party organizes the early elections," Nikol Pashinyan said.

He believes a candidate from the people should be appointed the Prime Minister f Armenia, and after that an interim government should be formed and then extraordinary parliamentary elections can be held.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.