Armenians cry foul
Thousands rally after ex-president Sarkisian is elected PM.
Yerevan: Tens of thousands rallied in the Armenian capital after ex-president Serzh Sarkisian was elected prime minister by the country’s parliament despite several days of protests, an AFP journalist reported from the scene.
Opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan, who organised the protest, said “tens of thousands” gathered in Yerevan’s Republic Square on Tuesday to denounce Sarkisian’s efforts to extend his chokehold on power after he stepped down as president last week.
Holding Armenian flags and chanting “Armenia without Serzh!”, protesters filled Yerevan’s main square after lawmakers backed the Kremlin-supported veteran politician’s candidacy with 77 to 17 votes.
His second and final term as president ended last week.
The opposition denounced the vote, which made Sarkisian Armenia’s top leader under a new parliamentary system of government, saying the 63-year-old lacked popular support.
“Sarkisian lacks legitimacy and has earned the hatred of Armenians,” Pashinian told the rally.
Earlier in the day, he announced “the start of a peaceful velvet revolution in Armenia” and called on supporters to “paralyse the work of all government agencies”.
“We must not allow Armenia’s transformation into an autocratic country where the same man remains in power for an indefinite time,” 23-year-old student Karen Mirzoyan said at the rally.
Another protester, 38-year-old Roza Tunyan, said Sarkisian “lied to Armenians and broke his promise not to become prime minister after his presidential term expired”.
On Tuesday morning, several thousand demonstrators marched through the centre of the capital Yerevan and staged sit-in protests outside government buildings.
They blockaded the entrances to a dozen government buildings, including those housing the foreign ministry and central bank.