YEREVAN, MAY 3, ARMENPRESS. There is some kind of consensus within the Armenian public and politics towards Nagorno Karabakh issue which will not change under the light of new power configurations, ARMENPRESS reports Russian political scientist Sergey Markedonov said during a press conference on May 3, adding that unexpected changes shouldn’t be expected. “This is one of the key issues of these days. The Azerbaijani blogosphere often speaks about that the new authorities will be ready for some mutual concessions or concessions. Frankly speaking, I do not think that in case of a new power configuration Karabakh policy can drastically differ from the previous one”, the political scientist said.

As refers to the Azerbaijan, Markedonov thinks that the Azerbaijanis are cautious in terms of radical steps in Nagorno Karabakh issue. “Karabakh, in contrast to Donbas, is not viewed as a “proxy war”, I mean a clash of interests of greater countries and there are similarities between Russia and the West in this issue. If you act against Russia, you act also against the West and people in Baku know that”, Sergey Markedonov said.

The speaker noted that if instability in Armenia had reached a more serious level, up to clashes, Azerbaijan might have taken advantage of the situation by making tough steps on the contact line, which fortunately did not take place thank to the peaceful solution of the protests.

On April 23, at 16:00, Armenia’s 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.

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

The ruling Republican Party (RPA) announced that they will not nominate a candidate for PM and will support the candidate nominated by the 1/3 of the total MPs.

Tsarukyan, ARF and Yelk factions announced endorsing Pashinyan’s candidacy. Nikol Pashinyan has been nominated as candidate of Prime Minister of Armenia at the National Assembly of Armenia by 16:00, May 3. His candidacy was supported by over 1/3 of the total MPs.

English –translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan