Armenia ruling party to support election of PM, assures spokesperson

YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS. Eduard Sharmazanov, Vice Speaker of Parliament and spokesperson of the ruling Republican Party (HHK), says that the HHK will support the election of a Prime Minister.

The HHK spokesperson assured that the necessary 53 votes for electing a Prime Minister will be ensured for electing the candidate nominated by 1/3rd of the parliament.

“The HHK will support the election of Prime Minister. How, with what quantity, I don’t think it is important. What’s important is that the necessary 53 votes will be ensured and the person having the signatures of 1/3 will become Prime Minister,” he said.

Asked why the ruling party blocked the election on May 1 and a day later it decided not to nominate a candidate for the second round, Sharmazanov said the HHK faction found it appropriate at that moment.

“Regarding my stance, it hasn’t changed. I have expressed my stance during the May 1 debates, and I maintain the same opinion, but this doesn’t mean that there can’t be other opinions. During my entire career I have been in favor of pluralism and dissent. Our vote on May 1 has been absolutely political, and we expressed our political stance,” he said.

Sharmazanov also commented on the probability of snap elections.

He said that there are certain procedures in place for early elections. “The Constitution clearly stipulates when early elections can be held. If we elect a Prime Minister on May 8, and I am nearly 100% sure that we will have a Prime Minister, then we can’t go for early elections. If the Prime Minister brings the government program and this program gets approved, in this case again early elections can’t be held. They are bringing an issue of amending the Electoral Code to the agenda, while this isn’t an issue of discussing in a hurry. We must sit down and discuss. The electoral code is a constitutional law, which requires 3/5 of lawmakers’ votes for amendments. Debates will take place. Everything must be done according to the schedule,” he said.

After nearly 9 hours of debates on electing a Prime Minister on May 1, with opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan being the sole candidate, the Armenian parliament failed to make the election as 56 lawmakers voted against and 45 lawmakers voted in favor.

The only nominated candidate for Prime Minister was opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, who spearheaded the latest protest campaigns which prompted the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan on April 23.

Pashinyan was nominated by the opposition Yelk faction.

Two other factions – Tsarukyan and the ARF – have endorsed the opposition MP’s candidacy.

Pashinyan needed at least 53 votes to be elected Prime Minister.

After the May 1 vote, Pashinyan called on his supporters to go on strikes, shut down streets and highways and continue civil disobedience.

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.

According to the Constitution, in case of failure to elect a Prime Minister in the parliament, a second round of election is held seven days later. If a Prime Minister isn’t elected in the second round also, the parliament is dissolved by virtue of law.

The second round of the election for Prime Minister will take place May 8, at 12:00.

In the early morning of May 2, protesters shut down the road leading to Armenia’s Zvartnots airport. Traffic was virtually paralyzed in Yerevan. Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan released a statement calling on demonstrators to stop threatening and insulting lawmakers. The Speaker urged protesters to stop illegally blocking the homes of Members of Parliament.

In the second round, candidates nominated by at least one third of the total number of MPs are entitled to participate in the election, according to the Constitution.

On May 2, the Tsarukyan faction announced it is endorsing Nikol Pashinyan for the second round voting also.

On the same day, the ruling party said it will not nominate a candidate. HHK said it will endorse the candidate who will be nominated by 1/3 of the parliament.

Later in the day, Nikol Pashinyan told his supporters to cease civil disobedience campaigns and un-block streets and highways.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan