YEREVAN, OCTOBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says he is happy that certain lawmakers heard the people’s voice and reacted. The PM was asked by reporters to comment on the petition signed by a group of lawmakers calling for early elections in December.

“My desire is for no tension to exist in the country, I have told my colleagues that the domestic political situation shouldn’t be escalated. There are realities that should be reckoned,” he said.

Asked whether the MPs were pressured, Pashinyan said if they were pressured, then it was the people’s pressure.

“Many Members of Parliament are under the pressure of their relatives, neighbors, sometimes even their own family members, and they, I believe, reacted first of all to the pressure of their own circles,” the PM said.

Speaking about dissolving the parliament, Pashinyan stressed that the current scenario is the following: he resigns, political forces won’t nominate a candidate, parliament fails to elect new PM twice, and the parliament is dissolved.

He didn’t specify when he will resign, saying it is a matter of ‘calculations’.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan