Armenian protest leader rallies support for premier bid
yerevan — Armenian protest leader Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday scrambled for support in his bid to become prime minister amid key talks to break a deadlock over the country’s next leader.
Pashinyan was to hold antigovernment rallies in his birthplace Ijevan and Armenia’s third largest city of Vanadzor, driving around the landlocked South Caucasus country with his supporters in a convoy.
In the small northern town of Dilijan, several hundred locals greeted Pashinyan, holding flags and beating drums.
“We want change in Armenia and Pashinyan to be elected prime minister right away,” said Arman Ovsepyan, a musician.
“If the Republicans refuse to leave power, we will force them to do so peacefully.”
Tatevik Karapetyan, a 32-yearold computer designer, added: “The people have started a peaceful revolution because Armenia desperately needed change.”
Armenia has been in the grips of a severe political crisis for the past two weeks. Observers fear the turmoil can destabilise the Moscowallied nation.
Accused of a power grab by the opposition, the country’s leader Serzh Sarkisian resigned this week as the country’s new prime minister after serving as president for a decade.
The protest movement led by Pashinyan has accused Sarkisian’s ruling Republican Party — which has a majority of seats in parliament — of clinging to power.
Pashinyan, 42, has issued an ultimatum to the authorities, saying he should be elected a new prime minister in a vote on May 1. He however does not have enough votes to get elected. —