09.04.2018

Armenia’s fourth president sworn in, though he won't be leading the country

JAMnews

Yerevan

*The presidential palace in Yerevan, Armenia. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili*

Armen Sargsyan has been sworn in as the new president of Armenia.

He promised to be fair, and to lead with only state and national interests in mind and to apply all his efforts towards bringing Armenians from across the world together.

He was sworn in via the Armenian constitution and a religious Christian text, and ended his speech with the words “God speed”.

Armen Sargsyan was Armenia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. He was a foreign researcher and instructor at Cambridge University in the Institute of Mathematics under the auspices of London University during the time of the Soviet Union (1984-1985, 1989-1991). In 1996 he was the Prime Minister of Armenia, but for only four months. He was also the fifth leader of the country at the time.

His candidacy for the position of president was put forward by former president Serzh Sargsyan, whose term officially comes to an end today.

The fourth president will not have as wide a range of power as his predecessors. As a result of constitutional changes, Armenia is moving to a full parliamentary system of rule. This means that the leadership of the country will be led by the prime minister and not the president.

The position of the president will be more symbolic in nature now.

Armen Sargsyan was chosen by MPs of the National Congress of Armenia. This will be the same for future appointments as well. The term of the presidency is seven years.

Some opposition figures note that a system is taking shape in which the president will no longer have any authority. They say that Serzh Sargsyan, who earlier held the presidency for two terms in a row and was no longer able to put forward his candidacy for the position, will be offered the position of prime minister.

Opposition MP Nikolai Pashinyan, together with supporters, held a campaign over the past few days calling on people to come out onto the streets and demonstrate against the appointment of Serzh Sargsyan to the position of the prime minister, and to not allow him to lead the country for a third term in a row.

The government of Armenia was dismissed today after Armen Sargsyan was appointed president. Over the course of the next two weeks, the parliamentary majority will present its candidate for the position of the head of state. He will be voted for by the country’s MPs.

Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan recently met with the now former president and head of the Republican Party of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, with whom he discussed the issue of the candidacy for the soon to be empty position of the premiership.

“Taking into account the achievements made during the last government, we decided to offer our coalition partners to retain the current configuration of the government during this period…and to put forward the candidacy of Serzh Sargsyan as the number one figure in the country. It is very important to transfer to the new system as smoothly, effectively as possible and to minimise risks”.