Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian has resigned

Armenian reformist Prime Minister Nikol Pachinian announced on Tuesday (October 16th) his resignation on television, a decision intended to convene early parliamentary elections that he wants to hold before the end of the year.

After this resignation, the Armenian Parliament has two weeks to elect a new prime minister, according to the Constitution. If it fails twice, Parliament is dissolved and early elections are automatically called.

« My dear and proud people, today I resigned, » said Nikol Pachinian, promising to « guarantee the free expression of the will of the people in early parliamentary elections ».

He said he was resigning so that the dissolution of parliament and the holding of early parliamentary elections would be possible, but that he would assume his duties until the vote.

« If in the elections in December you vote for our political strength, I will be re-elected as prime minister, » he said.

In a meeting with members of his party on Tuesday, Pachinian said he would run for the post of prime minister « for the purpose of not being elected » and, thus, call for early elections. Opposition parties in Parliament have announced that they will not be running for office.

Nikol Pachinian wished good luck to all the political parties in the December elections, thanked the people for their support and apologized in case he would have disappointed someone or did not know how to live up to the confidence that he would have been granted:

« This is a troubling moment, as we are completing the stage of the revolution and entering a new phase, » he said.

According to the Armenian Constitution, early parliamentary elections must be held between 30 and 45 days after the dissolution of parliament.

Armenian MPs voted on 3 October to make it more difficult to call early elections, prompting Pachinian to call his supporters to meet near parliament to protest the « counter-revolutionary » move.

He then sacked six ministers whose parties had supported the amendments, which were not promulgated by President Armen Sarkissian.

The Republican Party, a majority in Parliament, has stated that it is not opposed to early elections, but does not want to hold them until May or June 2019, and not December as Mr. Pachinian would like, so that parties have time to prepare for it.

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Gabriel MIHAI

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