YEREVAN, OCTOBER 17, ARMENPRESS. Acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has commented on his earlier statement when he said that he might be nominated as candidate for prime minister in parliament as a formal technicality at the first round of election, in a pre-arranged scenario of not being elected in order for the parliament to be disbanded.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service Azatutyun Radio, Pashinyan said that it is just a political matter. “It is a legal issue. And lawyers are debating it. Frankly speaking as result of discussions of the second half of the day the opinion that this kind of an interpretation isn’t accurate – regarding the need for nomination - was overwhelming. Therefore, this is just a legal issue,” he said.

He added that he simply didn’t want any nuance to be ignored and that it is just a formality.

He said that a political decision will be made after the final discussion.

Pashinyan resigned as prime minister yesterday in order to trigger the process required for calling early elections of parliament. The parliament will be dissolved if it fails to elect a new prime minister twice within two weeks after Pashinyan’s resignation.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan