YEREVAN, March 3. /ARKA/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, responding to questions from MPs in parliament on Wednesday, said if the parliamentary opposition accepts the proposal to hold early parliamentary elections, they will be held within the agreed time frame during 2021.
According to him, early parliamentary elections are a means of restoring public solidarity.
“The government and political forces must be guarantors that these elections will be held in free, fair and legal conditions. I have already sent an invitation, first of all, to the leaders of the parliament-represented opposition parties and I plan to meet with them in the coming days. I hope that this agreement will be reached,” he said.
On December 25, 2020, Nikol Pashinyan said he was ready to step down to pave way for snap elections. But the opposition forces, however, demand that he resign and give his position to an interim prime minister who must prepare the country for early elections.
According to Pashinyan, “the opposition’s demand that he resign does not have broad public support.”
Earlier this month, Nikol Pashinyan and lawmakers representing his My Step alliance reiterated officially that there was no popular “demand” for the conduct of snap elections. They also said that such elections were rejected by Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia opposition parties represented in the Armenian parliament.
Pashinyan renewed his election offer on March 1, when addressing a rally in Yerevan he called after the Armenian military’s top brass demanded his resignation, deepening the political crisis in the country.
One of the two opposition parties represented in the parliament, Bright Armenia accepted the offer, the other party- Prosperous Armenia- which is part of an opposition alliance which has been holding demonstrations in a bid to force Pashinyan to resign has been silent so far. -0-