Tensions in the Armenia capital Yerevan remain high as a meeting between the acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan and MP and the de facto leader of the opposition Nikol Pashinian were cancelled, suggesting the transition of power to a new government could be difficult.
There are signs already that the ruling HHK will not give up power easily. The cancellation of today's talks leave a great deal of uncertainty over how a new prime minister will be appointed – either by a vote in parliament where the HHK has a majority by April 29, or by protestors on the street.
Pashinian called on demonstrators to return to the streets today at 11am to continue a campaign of civil disobedience, which has largely brought traffic in Yerevan to a halt.
Students from several universities, who played a central role in building the protest momentum, said they were launching student strikes from 10am the same day. Protests are likely to continue until a new “people’s” prime minister is appointed. That has to happen by April 29, according to Armenia’s constitution.
Pashinian told reporters at a news conference on April 24 that he is ready to become Armenia’s prime minister, if this is the will of the people. The opposition has also claimed it is just 13 votes short of the 53 votes it needs to elect him, TASS reported quoting an MP from the opposition Yelq faction, Edmon Marukyan.
"I have already said that I am prepared to assume responsibility and become the premier, if this is the will of the people. Anyway, none of the Republican Party representatives will become prime minister. Their rule is over. I call on Karen Karapetyan not to try to retain power. Tomorrow we should discuss the peaceful transition of power," Pashinian said, reported Tass.
According to the constitution if a prime minister steps down the party factions have a week to nominate a new candidate. General elections do not automatically follow the appointment of a new prime minister. However, Karapetyan himself suggested on April 25 that fresh elections might be the way out of the current political crisis, Reuters reported.
But the appointment of a new prime minister is still likely to be a point of contention. Pashinian is proposing to bypass parliament entirely in the selection of candidates for prime minister. He also said that members of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) party are ineligible for the post and should not put their names forward.
"We will arrange that on the square. We will just ask or propose a candidate, and the people will [vote] with their response and their voices," Pashinian said at a press conference on April 24.
"I am sure that early elections will be held within the shortest possible period of time. Prior to that, we need to amend the legislation to make sure that the elections are open and free. The people have no confidence in the election process," Pashinian said, adding that the elections should be held within the next month or two.
The Armenian opposition is ready to conduct negotiations with both Karapetyan and representatives of the HHK, he continued.
"These talks should be attended by Acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, Parliament Speaker Ara Babloyan and head of the Republican Party’s parliamentary faction Vahram Baghdasaryan," he said. "I state that none of the Republicans can become prime minister any longer.”
10 days that shook Armenia
Serzh Sargsyan, nominated by the HHK, was elected prime minister by the parliament on April 17. On Monday, he stepped down amid growing opposition protests, which erupted on April 13. On April 23, Karapetyan became the country’s acting prime minister and was expected to start negotiations with Pashninian on the details of the transition of power, the appointment of a new prime minister and near term plans for a general election.
However, the crucial talks scheduled to take place on April 25 were called off over a disagreement on the agenda. The acting government of the former ruling elite, led by Karepetyan, has yet to say publicly that it will step aside.
Karapetyan said the meeting was cancelled "because Nikol Pashinian put forward new demands, in particular on the format, agenda and coverage of the meeting. He put forward the list of participants from our side and also claimed that he would negotiate solely on his agenda. This cannot be seen as negotiations or dialogue, he only expresses his point of view, his agenda."
"I have never heard of negotiations in this format before," he added.
"Negotiations can centre only on the issues that were made public earlier, namely, on the agenda for a transition of [state] power in Armenia," Tigran Avinyan, a spokesman for the Civil Accord opposition party said on April 24 reports Tass. "We don’t think any other agenda can be subject to discussion."
Karapetyan told the foreign press corps on April 24 that he hopes a compromise can be worked out within the structures of the law and constitution, but as his HHK has the majority in parliament this would clearly leave the ruling elite with a considerable amount of power.
"Regardless of anything, all the solutions should be civilised and logical and should match the format of the Constitution and laws," Karapetyan told foreign correspondents. "I’d like to stress my intention to do everything in my power for assuring solidarity and unity of our people and I don’t make any secret of my hopes our partners [the opposition] will do the same."
Revolution will continue
Pashinian has vowed that the protests in Armenia’s capital Yerevan will continue until the government has been replaced by a “people’s government.”
"There'll be no breaks until our revolution gets through to the logical end," he said.
"There are people in the government quarters who are quite competent and who’re working quite well," he said. "There are competent professionals among our supporters, too, and they will get down to work."
Pashinian repeated promises of sweeping reforms that are clearly designed to break up the elite’s control over the government that become entrenched over the last decade.
"All the public sector workers were forced to join the ranks of the Republican Party but there won’t be anything of this kind anymore," Pashinian said.
"There will be no vendetta against former Premier Sargsyan,” he said. "I have already said that legitimacy is very important for us. We respect the presumption of innocence. I am not a prosecutor or an investigator to blame someone. If someone is to blame, his guilt must be proven in court," he noted.
"When we come to power, we are not going to make any steep geopolitical moves because I don’t think it is time for that now. We are going to do everything in Armenia’s interests," he told a news conference, adding that the issue of possible withdrawal from such organisations as the Eurasian Economic Union — one of the demands of opposition parties such as Yelq — can be decided only in a referendum.
Relations with Russia
Pashinian has also reached out to Moscow but intends to steer a middle course, stressing Armenia’s relations with neighbours Georgia and Turkey are just as important. “I’m not pro-Russian or anti-Russian. I’m pro-Armenian,” Pashinian said earlier.
He has not commented on relations with Azerbaijan, with which Armenia has been in a continuous state of political conflict for most of the last two and half decades that occasionally erupts into fighting the disputed enclave of Nagorno Karabakh.
Armenia and Russia have sisterly relations but some problems exist in them, too, he said. "We’re prepared to discuss the future of Armenian-Russian relations with due account of our nation’s interests. Among the problems existing between Russia and Armenia I could name the obstacles to getting jobs that the people with Armenian driving licenses run into in Russia. Number two, of course, is the exports of [Russian] weaponry to Azerbaijan."
Pashinian said he is against the idea of developing relations with the European Union to the detriment of Russia.
"We will not develop and expand our relations with the European Union to the detriment of Russia," he said at a news conference. In his words, Armenia should "expand relations with both Russia and the European Union, as well as with the United States, Iran and Jordan."
He also suggested that he was happy to leave major Russian military bases in Armenia in place. "We have no problems with the Russian bases, as you know how bad our relations with Turkey are. The base safeguards this section of the border and our country need it," Pashinian stressed.