Armenia’s Pashinyan invites political forces for consultations on snap parliamentary elections
Posted on December. 26. 2020
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyann invites the parliamentary and interested extra-parliamentary forces for consultations on holding snap parliamentary elections in 2021.
The call comes after weeks of protest demanding the Prime Minister to step down.
“Now it is already obvious that the process demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister did not receive the support of the people,” PM Pashinyan said in a Facebook post.
According to him, the opposition had all the opportunities to generate popular support around its demand.
“It had huge financial, media and organizational resources, it had wide opportunities to organize rallies and protests, but not only did it fail to garner popular support for its demands, but also the number of its supporters was reduced to a minimum, the process in the square tends to fade,” he added.
“No one can say that we have kept power by using brute force. On the contrary, we are accused of unnecessary mildness,” the Prime Minister added.
“All this, however, does not change in any way the commitment of our political team and my personal commitment to stand before the people and answer the people. I do not cling to the seat of the Prime Minister, but I also cannot have a careless attitude towards the government, the post of the Prime Minister given to me by the people,” Pashinyan said.
According to him, “the fate of that post and the future political leadership of the country must be decided by the people through free expression of will.”
“And I, as the Prime Minister of Armenia, consider myself the guarantor of that free expression of will,” Pashinyan said.
“I am also ready to leave the post of Prime Minister as a result of the people’s decision. And I can leave the post of the Prime Minister only by the decision of the people. I am also ready to continue to lead the Republic of Armenia in these difficult times in case the people’s trust is re-established,” he noted.
Nikol Pashinyan believes there is only one way to get the answer to all these questions – to hold snap parliamentary elections.
“Based on the above, I invite the parliamentary and interested extra-parliamentary forces to consultations on holding special parliamentary elections in 2021,” he concluded.
The call comes after weeks of protest by the opposition forces, which formed a Homeland Salvation Movement.
Sixteen parliamentary and non-parliamentary forces picked Vazgen Manukyan as a candidate for Prime Minister to lead the country during the transition period and organize snap parliamentary elections.
The protests were triggered by the signing of the trilateral agreement between the Prime Minister of Armenia, the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan on cessation of hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh.
The statement of November 9 saw the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone. Three regions previously controlled by Artsakh forces were handed over to Azerbaijan.