PM clinging to power

YEREVAN: Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan yesterday rejected opposition demands to step down, as protests against the former president’s appointment as premier extended to a 10th day. Sarksyan is accused of clinging to power after he was appointed premier this month, after 10 years as president.

Tens of thousands of opponents have marched through Yerevan, blocking streets and staging sitins. Under a revised constitution approved in a 2015 referendum, state powers in the small ex-Soviet state have shifted to the prime minister, while the presidency has become a largely ceremonial post. – Reuters/African News Agency (ANA)