‘Let the people decide’ – Armenian PM proposes snap parliamentary elections

[Moor]

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has proposed snap parliamentary elections be held in 2021 as a way out of the current political crisis in the country following the Karabakh truce.

“I am ready to resign at the request of the people, but only after the people themselves have made the decision,” PM Nikol Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page.

17 opposition parties have been holding street protests in Yerevan, demanding the resignation of PM Pashinyan ever since November 10 when the trilateral truce ending the hostilities in Karabakh was signed.

Opposition leaders claim that Nikol Pashinyan entered into a ‘traitorous conspiracy’ in doing so, and voluntarily surrendered territories in Karabakh.

Strikes and blocked roads in Armenia: how the opposition is trying to overthrow the PM

Opposition Prime Minister candidate Vazgen Manukyan called on the army and police to join the opposition movement and together to achieve the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan

Pashinyan has until now already signaled that he will not be stepping down as a result of the pressure from the opposition parties, saying that he took up this post based on the will of the people and will only resign if there is a clear display of public will that he do so.

In his Facebook post, Pashinyan writes that the opposition’s protest movement demanding his resignation has not received the support of most of the people; despite the fact that, in his opinion, the opposition has ‘huge financial, media and organizational resources to stage rallies and protests’.

“I don’t cling to the prime minister’s chair, but I also cannot be reckless with the post given to me by the people,” Pashinyan stressed in his post.

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