YEREVAN, MAY 2, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Democratic Liberal Party, aka Ramgavar Party, has called on opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan to continue his struggle in the constitutional way.

Ramgavar released a statement which is available in Armenian.

The second round of the election for Prime Minister will take place May 8, at 12:00 in the Armenian parliament, Speaker Ara Babloyan said in a statement.

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.

Pashinyan was nominated by the opposition Yelk faction.

Two other factions – Tsarukyan and the ARF – have endorsed the opposition MPs candidacy.

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

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. In the second round, candidates nominated by at least one third of the total number of MPs are entitled to participate in the election. If a Prime Minister isn’t elected in the second round also, the parliament is dissolved by virtue of law.

Thus, Yelk faction will need the endorsement of Tsarukyan faction again to nominate Pashinyan for the second round.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan