President ‘closely follows’ developments in Armenia, urges to keep matters within constitution

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 3, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, currently on a working visit to the United States, is closely following the ongoing developments in Armenia, according to his office.

“The president has had phone talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Speaker of Parliament Ara Babloyan to discuss the situation.

The president will address the bill on amending the Rules of Procedure Law of parliament upon returning to Yerevan, by initiating consultations with the leadership of the government and parliament.

The president is calling for restraint and tolerance for each other, and is certain that the current situation is possible to be resolved and should be resolved within the Constitution and laws, through negotiations and dialogue.

The president will depart for France from the United States to attend the wake and funeral of world-renown crooner Charles Aznavour,” Sarkissian’s office said in a statement.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called on his supporters to rally outside the parliament building after Republicans convened an extraordinary session to adopt a bill on amending the rules of procedure of the parliament. The Tsarukyan and ARF factions supported the bill.

The controversial bill is an amendment to the Rules of Procedure law of the parliament, whereby in the event of a parliament session being unable to be held because of lack of quorum, or if lawmakers are anyhow prevented from participating, it will be considered interrupted rather than failed, with a possibility of resuming at a later date. The aim of the bill is apparently a limitation of possible circumstances of dissolution of parliament.

Thousands rallied outside the parliament building, where MPs were literally besieged.

The PM entered the building to hold negotiations. After more than an hour of talks, he exited the building and said “Today we showed that early elections are a pan-Armenian demand and the political forces that will oppose this political demand declare war against their own people. My impression is that our colleagues from the HHK, ARF and Tsarukyan factions realized this message.”

The Prime Minister also said he will resign in order for snap elections to take place as soon as possible.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan