Armenian protest leader voted PM
MOSCOW: After weeks of rallies and unrest, Armenia’s bloodless revolution secured victory yesterday when parliament selected protest leader Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister, making a dramatic break with the ruling elite.
A crowd of around 100 000 gathered in the main square of the capital, Yerevan, burst into cheers on hearing the news, Armenian news outlet Civil Net showed on its live feed. Rock musicians took to a central stage, where they played to jubilant crowds of mostly young people waving the tricolour Armenian flag and photos of Pashinyan.
The 42-year-old secured the vote after his pro-democracy movement ousted former prime minister Serzh Sargsyan after more than a decade in power. A previous vote on May 1 failed to elect Pashinyan.
Capping weeks of nationwide strikes, protests and carnivalesque street parties, parliament voted 59 to 42 in favour of Pashinyan. Charismatic and fiery, he had convinced some lawmakers from the ruling Republican Party to cross party lines and vote for him.
His rise from a fringe opposition lawmaker has been meteoric: six weeks ago, he was walking through the Armenian countryside, protesting what he said was cronyism in the country of 3 million amid accusations that Sargsyan altered the constitution to stay in power.
Russian president Vladimir Putin, who was inaugurated a day earlier for his fourth term, rushed to congratulate Pashinyan in what felt like part approval, part caution. “I hope that your work as head of government will promote stronger friendly and allied relations between our countries,” Putin wrote in a telegram, saying this should take place within the framework of various security and trade agreements Armenia has already established with Russia.
Impoverished and landlocked, Armenia relies on Moscow for economic backing and keeping a simmering conflict with Azerbaijan at bay. Moscow operates two military bases in the country, which borders Turkey and Iran. Pashinyan has insisted that he wants to maintain relations with Russia and the West.