YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he sees a tendency of forming a puppet regime or anarchy by the political forces who are currently demanding his resignation.

Pashinyan was speaking in parliament during a Q&A with lawmakers amid protests against his tenure.

Opposition Bright Armenia party leader Edmon Marukyan asked Pashinyan why he isn’t stepping down despite demands on doing so by all former presidents, the incumbent president, the Catholicos Karekin II, as well as the Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I, numerous political parties, intellectuals and others.

“And why don’t you, including parliamentary forces, demand early elections? Different scenarios are proposed all the time to leave the people out from political processes irreversibly. They are proposing to create anarchy or a puppet regime in Armenia because they are proposing a candidate for prime minister who doesn’t have the people’s support, support in parliament, doesn’t have a prospect of gaining the people’s support, because a condition is brought forward that he won’t take part in the early elections,” Pashinyan said, referring to Vazgen Manukyan, the former Prime Minister who is the candidate of the so called Homeland Salvation Movement comprised of more than a dozen political parties as interim prime minister. “In this case the power will belong to the forces who brought him [to power]. During that one year they will restore all possible mechanisms of vote rigging,” Pashinyan concluded.

The PM said that those who are now demanding his resignation are the same people who were doing so from the very beginning of his tenure, and now is an occasion for them to voice that demand.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan