26.04.2018, Yerevan.
If the current acting prime minister remains in power, the election must be disrupted, the opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan said on April 25 in a video address on his Facebook page, RIA Novosti reports.
After Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation, whose election to the post of prime minister was the target of opposition protests, his deputy, Karen Karapetyan, a member of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, was appointed as acting prime minister. Later he announced a possible pre-term parliamentary election.
In his video address, Nikol Pashinyan expresses discontent over the fact that the election is to be carried out under control of the RPA. He said that opposition is going to not only boycott the election, but also to block voting stations. According to Pashinyan, opposition rallies will continue until their demands are fulfilled.
Since April 13, protests have been underway in Erevan, which began as a protest against Serzh Sargsyan’s election as the head of the cabinet. On April 23, the elected Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned under pressure from the opposition.
On April 25, negotiations were to take place between acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan and the leader of the protest movement, Nikol Pashinyan, who claimed that he was ready to take the post of Prime Minister. However, opposition members undermined the negotiation by their attempts to put pressure on the authorities. Pashinyan announced the continuation of the protests.
On April 25, the US called upon the Armenian government to begin a dialogue and a transition of power.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
