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YEREVAN, APRIL 30, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov, the spokesman of the ruling Republican Party (HHK), said after the meeting with opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan that the HHK – as a political force going for democratic dialogue – went for obvious tolerance and solidarity by having political dialogue with the candidate for Prime Minister.
Speaking to reporters in the parliament, Sharmazanov said that the ruling party will have a discussion and the leader of their faction will announce their stance ahead of the PM election.
“We, unlike many political forces and also teams, do not make [hurried] decisions, we will discuss with our entire team and the faction leader will announce the faction’s decision before the voting”, he said.
Asked if the decision will be unanimous, Sharmazanov said: “I won’t jump ahead, we decided to entirely discuss and reach a final decision. Whatever decision we make, it will be based on the security of Artsakh and Armenia”.
On April 23, at 16:00, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned as widespread protests entered the 11th day.
On the same day, as required by law, the government resigned.
First Deputy PM Karen Karapetyan was named acting PM at an emergency Cabinet meeting.
The Speaker of Parliament announced that elections of a new Prime Minister will be held May 1.
On April 28, HHK, the ruling party, said it will not nominate a candidate for Prime Minister in the upcoming election.
The Tsarukyan faction also said it will not nominate a candidate and endorsed “the people’s candidate”.
On April 29, the ARF said they endorse the candidacy of Nikol Pashinyan for the upcoming election on May 1.
On April 30 the opposition Yelk faction officially nominated Pashinyan for the upcoming PM election. The three other factions – the HHK, Tsarukyan, and ARF, announced they will not nominate a candidate.
There are 4 factions in the Armenian parliament. The Republican Party (HHK) faction, the ruling party of Armenia, has 58 seats in the 105-seat unicameral parliament of Armenia – known as the National Assembly. The ARF faction – (Armenian Revolutionary Federation aka Dashnaktsutyun), has 7 seats. The Tsarukyan alliance has 31 seats, and the Yelk faction has 9 seats.
English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan