20:57, 1 May 2018

Pashinyan has a week left for the second attempt to be elected Armenian Premier

Nikol Pashinyan. Photo by Tigran Petrosyan for the "Caucasian Knot"

The Armenian parliament will be dissolved if it fails to elect the Prime Minister by May 8. The dissolution and early elections without amending the Electoral Code threaten Pashinyan's plans and give the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) a chance to stay in parliament with the prospect of nominating its candidate for the Premiership.

On Tuesday, Armenian MPs failed to elect Nikol Pashinyan, the opposition leader, who was the only candidate, as the country's Premier.

Nikol Pashinyan is an Armenian journalist and politician, an MP since 2012. He was convicted after the dispersal of opposition rallies in March 2008, resulting in the death of 10 people and injuring hundreds of demonstrators.

If the factions of the "Tsarukyan" bloc and the ARF "Dashnaktsutyun" do not change their positions, Pashinyan will participate in the repeated election of the Prime Minister.

Should the MPs fail again to elect the Premier, the National Assembly (Parliament) is dissolved, and extraordinary elections to the parliament are scheduled. In this case, amendments to the Electoral Code, needed to Pashinyan, will no be made, and the RPA will have a chance to remain in the parliament following the election outcomes, Grant Mikaelyan, a political analyst, believes.

His colleague Ruben Megrabyan predicts the aggravation of the political crisis if Pashinyan is not elected the Prime Minister.

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