YEREVAN, March 19. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will remain in power until early parliamentary elections are held, Deputy Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan from the ruling My Step bloc told reporters on Friday.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said March 18 that early general elections will be held in the country on June 20.
Pashinyan has been facing opposition demands to resign since he signed a peace deal in November with Azerbaijani and Russian leaders to end the 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh that claimed thousands of young lives, and saw Azerbaijan reclaim control over large parts of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas that had been held by Armenian forces for more than a quarter of a century
“Nikol Pashinyan will be interim prime minister until the end of polls and election of prime minister. No other scenario has been discussed,” Simonyan said.
According to Simonyan, My Step’s chances in the coming elections are quite high. ‘All previous administrations held elections with violations and could not be re-elected without them, and now their wings are cut off and they cannot use the so-called administrative resources and will not have a chance of winning a set in the legislature,” he said.
Simonyan admitted that the ruling majority’s popularity has decreased, but added that it will try to recover it during the election campaign.
“I am sure that we will win again. Why should people vote for us? We will answer this question during the campaign. We know that many are disappointed, angry with us, but they understand all the processes well and will give their assessment,” Simonyan said.
Regarding the public demand for snap elections, Simonyan noted that it is s difficult to measure, but, in his opinion, the majority is disappointed with all political forces and with politics in general. The main task of the political forces will be to present proposals to the public.
According to the Constitution of Armenia, early elections to the National Assembly are held not earlier than thirty and not later than forty-five days after the dissolution of the National Assembly. At the same time, the parliament itself will need at least 14 days to dissolve; it can be dissolved if the Prime Minister resigns.
After the resignation of the Prime Minister, the factions of the National Assembly have the right to nominate candidates within seven days, if this does not happen, then a new election of the Prime Minister is held, in which candidates nominated by at least one third of the total number of deputies have the right to participate. If the Prime Minister is not elected by a majority vote of the total number of deputies, the National Assembly is dissolved by virtue of law.
The martial law, which was introduced on September 27, 2020, after the aggression by Azerbaijan against Nagorno-Karabakh must also be lifted for elections to be held. –0—