Armenians welcome new prime minister Pashinyan
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 in the former Soviet country.
A huge crowd of around 100 000 gathered in the main square of the capital, Yerevan, burst into cheers upon hearing the news, Armenian news outlet CivilNet 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, Pashinyan had convinced some lawmakers from the ruling Republican Party to cross party lines and vote for him – something unthinkable just a short while ago.
Pashinyan’s rise from a fringe opposition lawmaker to prime minister has been meteoric: six weeks ago, he was walking through the Armenian countryside, protesting what he said was cronyism in the small country of three million amid accusations that Sargsyan had altered the constitution to stay in power.
Russian President Vladimir Putin – who was inaugurated a day earlier for his fourth term as president – 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 neighbouring Azerbaijan at bay. Moscow also operates two military bases in the country, which also borders Turkey and Iran. Pashinyan has insisted he wants to maintain relations with both Russia and the West.
Armenia’s bloodless revolution has so far avoided the aggressive response from Moscow that met the overthrow of authority in other formerly Soviet republics, notably Ukraine and Georgia, though that could change. – Washington Post