Pashinyan fails to get votes from parliament to be re-elected as PM

By Azernews

By Vafa Ismayilova

Armenia's acting prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has failed to get votes from Armenian MPs to get re-elected as the republican prime minister in order to hold early parliamentary elections in the country, TASS has reported.

The Armenian parliament's special session on May 3 was broadcast in real-time by local TV channels.

"One MP voted for the election of Pashinyan, three against, 75 abstained, Pashinyan was not elected prime minister," Parliament Speaker Ararat Mirzoyan said.

It is expected that the second session of the parliament to elect a new prime minister will take place on May 10. If MPs do not vote for Pashinyan's election again, the parliament will be dissolved, and President Armen Sargsyan will set a date for early elections, which, according to Pashinyan's earlier statements, will take place on June 20.

Pashinyan himself said earlier on May 3 that if political forces violate the agreements and nominate candidates for the post of head of the Armenian cabinet, then his My Step faction will elect a new prime minister. Pashinyan resigned on April 25 to hold early parliamentary elections in the republic.

Now he is acting as the head of the cabinet.  According to the technical procedure, the government of the country also resigned following the prime minister.

Enlightened Armenia and Prosperous Armenia parliamentary opposition factions have already stated that after Pashinyan's resignation they will not nominate their candidates for the post of prime minister.

The main political forces of Armenia have already announced that they will take part in the early parliamentary elections. According to experts, the main competitors of My Step will be the blocs of former presidents Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan.

Demonstrations demanding Pashinyan's resignation began throughout Armenia after he signed along with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in November 2020 a trilateral statement to put an end to the hostilities that began on September 27 in and around Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region. In accordance with the provisions of the document, Baku regained control over a number of formerly Armenian-occupied regions, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin corridor. The opposition considers Pashinyan to be responsible for this outcome.