Armenia to hold new parliamentary elections
November 2, 2018
Armenia will hold new elections on December 9 after President Armen Sarkisian dissolved parliament on Thursday.
The move is a major victory for acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (pictured above). The 43-year-old former journalist became the former Soviet nation's interim prime minister in May after spearheading weeks of protests that lead to the resignation of his predecessor, Serzh Sargsyan. He stepped down from the post in October in order to force a snap election.
The Armenian parliament is required by law to elect a new head of government within 14 days of a prime minister's resignation. By quitting and leaving parliament unable to find a successor, Pashinian forced parliament to dissolve and hold a new vote.
"Today parliament is being disbanded for the first time and for the first time we will have early elections," Pashinian said on Thursday. "We will ensure absolutely fair and legitimate elections and the rest is in people's hands."
The outgoing parliament will continue working until the new legislature is elected.
Pashinian's rise
When Sargsyan was elected Armenia's prime minister in April shortly after the final term of his decade-long presidency, opposition politicians denounced the appointment as an unfair retention of power.
Pashinian, who had long found it unacceptable for Sargsyan to extend his rule, headed weeks of peaceful anti-government rallies. He tapped into public anger over widespread poverty, high unemployment and rampant corruption that flourished under the old government.
Read more: Armenia: Frustration with the government breeds protest
The protests caused Sargsyan to step down from the post on April 23, and Pashinian, a member of the Civil Contract Party, was elected prime minister just over two weeks later.
Pashinian then began a campaign to drive veteran elites out of power in an attempt to reform the legislature. But his attempts to root out corruption have been met with resistance by Sargsyan's Republican Party, which had a majority in parliament before it was dissolved.
Capitalizing on popularity
New parliamentary elections were not to take place until 2022, but Pashinian's resignation paved the way for a new vote.
Upon stepping down, he warned that Sargsyan's loyalists would "cross the red line" if they tried to appoint someone else to the premiership, but the reformist politician had reportedly received assurances that that wouldn't happen.
On Thursday, the parliament failed to choose a new prime minister for a second time, thus allowing the president to dissolve the legislature.
With Pashinian's popularity perhaps at its peak, parties with which he is associated are expected to take control of parliament.
The My Step Alliance, which includes Pashinian's Civil Contract Party, won a landslide victory in municipal elections in September, winning 81 percent of the mayoral vote in the Armenian capital of Yeveran, where nearly 40 percent of the country's population lives.
In the meantime, Pashinian has stayed in charge as acting prime minister, saying he would serve as a "guarantor of the people's victory."
dv/bw (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)