Protests promised after Armenian elite stymies opposition plan

YEREVAN: The leader of an Armenian protest movement that forced the country’s veteran leader to step down yesterday announced a nationwide campaign of civil disobedience after the ruling party thwarted his bid to take over as prime minister.

Addressing tens of thousands of people gathered in a square in the Armenian capital, Nikol Pashinyan said that starting this morning, his supporters would block roads, railways and airports.

The planned day of protest in the small exSoviet state sets up a

standoff between Pashinyan’s movement, which has mobilised thousands of people to take to the streets, and a ruling elite which is determined to hold on to power and still controls the security apparatus.

‘‘If everyone participates in a total act of civil disobedience, this will be a total victory of the people of Armenia. Our struggle is a struggle of nonviolence, it is a peaceful act of civil disobedience,’’ Pashinyan said.

After days of protests, veteran leader Serzh Sarksyan stepped down as prime minister last week. That seemed to signal a dramatic shift in power in Armenia, an exSoviet state closely aligned to Russia that has been run by the same cadre of people since the late 1990s.

Pashinyan, a 42yearold former journalist who spent two years in jail for fomenting unrest, was submitted to parliament as the only nominee for the vacant prime minister’s job.

But the ruling Republican Party, allied to Sarksyan, has a majority in the legislature and after hours of acrimonious debate it withheld its support for Pashinyan’s candidacy, leaving him short of the support he needed.

Earlier yesterday, Pashinyan had warned the ruling elite it could face a ‘‘tsunami’’ of anger from the people if it stymied his move to become prime minister.

Supporters of Pashinyan, who had spent the day in the capital’s Republic Square to watch the parliamentary debate on two huge screens, shouted ‘‘Shame’’ when the result of the vote was shown.

The crisis in Armenia, which has a population of only about three million people and has Russian military bases on its territory, is being closely watched in Moscow. — Reuters

PHOTO: REUTERS Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan applauds at a rally after his bid to be interim prime minister was blocked by the parliament in Yerevan.