Armenian opposition presents 2 candidates for PM, though Pashinyan has no plans to resign

The Armenian opposition has already presented two candidates for the country’s premiership during an interim government – though no such election is on the agenda, given that PM Nikol Pashinyan does not intend to resign.

According to their plans, the prime minister should voluntarily resign, and the new head of government should organize early parliamentary elections, in which he will not participate and will not support any political force.

Most of the united 17 opposition parties propose a single candidate for the post of head of the transitional government.

This is Vazgen Manukyan, the ex-head of the Public Council of Armenia, who briefly served as prime minister of Armenia after the declaration of independence in the early 90s. He also served as the Minister of Defense of Armenia in ’92-’93.

The opposition party Bright Armenia, which is included in the 17-member coalition, agrees with the demand for Nikol Pashinyan’s resignation, but proposes its leader, Edmond Marukyan, for the post of prime minister.

The demand for the resignation of the current prime minister of Armenia is connected with the signing of the trilateral truce with Azerbaijan and Russia, which thousands of people and the opposition consider the ‘voluntary surrender of the territories of Karabakh.’

Armenian authorities insist on the ‘de-occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the right of its inhabitants to self-determination.’

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Why Vazgen Manukyan?

The name of the candidate for the post of Prime Minister of Armenia put forward by 16 opposition parties was announced by the leader of the Homeland party, the former head of the National Security Service Artur Vanetsyan:

“We decided to nominate him because he has experience, he has gone a serious path that the country needs now.”

Previously, the united opposition demanded, together with the resignation of the prime minister, the denunciation of the tripartite truce, but now it has abandoned this idea. The opposition’s goal at this point is to change the prime minister.

In the course of the upcoming negotiations on the settlement of the conflict, the oppositionists want to ‘change the negotiator’. In their opinion, this should be a person who can make the signed statement to some extent more beneficial for the Armenian side.

It is reported that opposition candidate Vazgen Manukyan will speak at the next rally and present an action plan.

Why Edmon Marukyan?

The Bright Armenia party announced that it would not support a single opposition candidate. If the post of prime minister remains vacant, the party prefers to nominate its leader, Edmond Marukyan, for this post.

Secretary of the Bright Armenia parliamentary faction Gevorg Gorgisyan said that they respect the right of 16 political forces to nominate their candidate for prime minister:

“But in this situation, the head of the transitional government can only be someone who did not burn bridges on either side, or someone who has a specific political team that can take responsibility for the prime minister.”