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Armenian opposition bloc to nominate protest leader Pashinyan as PM

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YEREVAN (Reuters) – Armenia’s opposition bloc said on Wednesday it would nominate protest opposition leader, Nikol Pashinyan, to be the country’s next prime minister, one of its members, Edmon Marukyan, told Reuters.

“Pashinyan has the people’s trust. I don’t think there will be any problems, and taking this situation into account, lawmakers will vote for his candidacy,” he said.

Marukyan spoke after police took up positions in the centre of the Armenian capital as tens of thousands of people protested against the ruling elite.

Pashinyan: No member of Republican Party of Armenia can become state’s PM

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Nikol Pashinyan

YEREVAN.- No member of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) can become the Prime Minister of the country, the leader of Civil Contract Party, MP Nikol Pashinyan stated  at a press conference with foreign journalists on Tuesday.

According to him, ex-PM  Serzh Sargsyan said that force, that gained 7% in the election can not win.

“Now Armenians joke that 7% is more than 93%. Our movement was supported by 90% of the population of Armenia, as well as support for the diaspora. The candidate of RPA won’t be nominated for the prime minister’s post.  The era of RPA rule ended in Armenia.  In Armenia the era of board of RPA has ended. Attempts to revive this force won’t be crowned with success,” Pashinyan said.

Asked about his nomination for the PM’s post, Pashinyan said: “If the people put such responsibility on me, I will not refuse. I think it will be so. We must ensure free elections in Armenia. The political crisis began at the time when people totally stopped trusting elections. The first thing we need to do is reform the election code.”

To the question whether there was any guarantee that the RPA will not head the government, he replied: “The RPA does not exist, only its ghost remains. I do not need any guarantees from the RPA. We have a stronger guarantee, a guarantee of the people and the Diaspora. I do not see any force that can resist the people of Armenia. ”

Asked whether Karen Karapetyan’s nomination is possible if he leaves the Republican Party, Pashinyan replied: “No!”

 

URGENT: Nikol Pashinyan, Sasun Michaelyan and Ararat Mirzoyan have been released

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YEREVAN, APRIL 23, ARMENPRESS. Members of Parliament Nikol Pashinyan, Sasun Michaelyan and Ararat Mirzoyan have been released after being arrested earlier on Saturday.

Pashinyan refused to comment on his meeting with First Deputy PM Karen Karapetyan, promising to give details later during the evening rally.

Armenia’s First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan made a statement today for the media.

“Today we’ve made a decision and I have addressed the Prosecutor General to retract the motion regarding the Members of Parliament. I am now going to meet with Mr. Pashinyan in order to negotiate and find a solution. Tomorrow’s day is very important, and I believe that we will have enough common sense and soberness to show the whole world that regardless of how many difficult problems we have, regardless of how many unsolved issues we have, we can sit and find a reasonable solution,” Karapetyan said.

On April 22  police dispersed a rally in Yerevan’s Erebuni district, and three initiators of the rally, the opposition leader himself, and two other lawmakers – Ararat Mirzoyan and Sasun Michaelyan were detained.

“All actions of the initiators of the rally are illegal after the decision of the police to cease the demonstrations, and all participants of the rally are obliged to leave the location of the rally”, police said.

After a couple of hours the Prosecutor General’s Office said that the three lawmakers have been placed under arrest under Article 96, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution within the framework of an ongoing criminal case with the purpose of preventing crime and in direct suspicion of deliberately organizing and holding illegal rallies.

“MP Nikol Pashinyan, MP Ararat Mirzoyan and MP Sasun Michaelyan have numerously called on their followers to block city streets, block entrances of governmental buildings, breach into governmental buildings and paralyze the functioning of these buildings.

Their followers implemented the unlawful calls and blocked numerous streets and avenues, blocked the entries of state, self-governing body buildings, as well as private organizations, obstructed the normal functioning of these buildings and agencies, committed violence against police officers and others – leading to disproportionate restriction of the rights of other citizens and public interest.

As required by the Constitution, the Speaker of Parliament has been immediately notified on the arrest of the lawmakers”, the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.

The crowd did not disperse, and pocket demonstrations were reported citywide.

Later in the day, hundreds of protesters gathered in the Republic Square again.

Armenia: Civil Contract demonstrators leave radio building

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Demonstrator left the Public Radio of Armenia just about one and a half hours after forcing their way into the building on Saturday, April 14.

The Civil Contract party which paralyzed traffic in downtown Yerevan to protest against former president Serzh Sargsyan’s premiership on Friday, entered the radio building on Saturday.

Thousands of demonstrators crowded a square in the Armenian capital to protest against Armenia’s recent change of government form on Friday.

After spending the night in the square, the group woke up in the morning and started walking towards the radio building.

Head of the Civil Contract party, lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan was demanding the staff to let him go live on radio.

Some 20 minutes after entering the building, electricity was cut.

When Pashinyan realized that he won’t be allowed to go life on radio, he and the demonstrators left the building.

The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) announced on Saturday that they have decided to nominate Sargsyan for the post of the prime minister of the country.

Armenian opposition MP ‘boycotting Serzh Sargsyan’s prime ministerial plan’

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Nikol Pashinyan boycotting Serzh, intends to walk from the second largest city to the capital in a 14-day

An opposition MP from the political faction Yelk (Way Out) on Friday announced a protest campaign in Gyumri “to boycott President Serzh Sargsyan’s possible nomination for the prime minister of Armenia”.


Nikol Pashinyan said he intends to walk from the second largest city to the capital in a 14-day march and conclude his campaign in a public rally in Yerevan’s Liberty Square. Pashinyan said his program includes visits to Gyumri but also the third largest city of Vanadzor, as well as Abovyan, Hrazdyan (Kotayk region) and several other cities and towns.

“I want to offer my apologies to all the towns we are not planning to cross. In our mind’s eye, we will be walking with everybody. Our logic behind selecting this route was that these are the first and second largest cities in Armenia.

We want to make this march a special kind of platform enabling the Armenian citizens to freely express their will,” he said.

Serzh Sargsyan is ending his third term of presidency in April. The latest constititional amendments, adopted in 2015, essentially narrow the president’s authority, giving sweeping powers to the prime minister.

“We must prevent this [Serzh Sargsyan’s promotion to the post of Prime Minister],” Pashinyan told reporters.

The National Assembly elected Armen Sarkissian, a former ambassador to the United Kingdom, as the fourth president of Armenia on March 3.

Nikol Pashinyan demands interrogation of Robert Kocharyan

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Nikol Pashinyan

Nikol Pashinyan

Leader of the Yelk (Way Out) faction Nikol Pashinyan posted a video on his Facebook page, announcing that he had written an appeal to the RA Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan to summon Robert Kocharyan, the second President of Armenia, for interrogation of the March 1 killings.

“So far, ten years later, the investigative body did not find out the actual facts on which Robert Kocharyan’s announcement about March 1, 2008, according to which some protestors were firing at soldiers from behind of cars and then hiding there again, was based on.”

“I have filed a petition to the General Prosecutor and demanded to summon Robert Kocharyan for interrogation and clarification on which his information, which he published in Baghramyan 26, was based on. The public should know from where Robert Kocharyan took that data. Maybe someone has reported it to him, who that person was; that person also must to be interrogated. “

Opposition MP hints ‘inevitability’ of Serzh Sargsyan’s future in top government office

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National Assembly, Nikol Pashinyan

National Assembly, Nikol Pashinyan

The legislative changes, coupled with the statements made time and again by members of the ruling Republican Party, hint the likelihood of President Serzh Sargsyan’s plan to vie for the prime minister’s post after April, an opposition MP said Monday.

Speaking to reporters at the National Assembly, Nikol Pashinyan (Yelk faction) reiterated their political team’s earlier promise “to realize a government change plan within a week” after making a public statement.

“Once I announce that we are embarking on a process of ousting Serzh Sargsyan, that process will be completed within a week, i.e. – between 9-16 April, to be more specific,” he noted.

Pashinyan said they will consider also other scenarios, considering their voters’ will. “Unless the people themselves express their own will, any government change will be impossible,” he added.

Asked whether Yelk has any decision or plan to conduct a street campaign against Serzh Sargsyan’s future career in politics, Pashinyan said they haven’t yet considered such a possibility. But he promised to respond exhaustively to all the concerns within a week after finalizing their future steps.

Armenia Police clarifies Nikol Pashinyan incident in Rome

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The Italian Police raided Armenian lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan’s hotel room in Rome.

Pashmina said they had come to arrest him on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by the Armenian authorities back in 2008.

Քիչ առաջ Իտալիայի ոստիկանությունը պաշարել էր իմ հյուրանոցի սենյակը՝ Հռոմում։

Եկել էին ինձ ձերբակալելու։ Պարզվում է ՀՀ իշխանությունները Ինտերպոլով փնտրում են ինձ։ 2008 թվականից փնտրում-փնտրում ու չեն գտնում։)))

The Armenian Police said in a statement that the Interpol National Central Bureau in Armenia (NCB) had asked Interpol’s General Secretariat to lift the arrest warrant after Pashinyan surrendered himself to law-enforcement bodies in 2009. The Secretariat had, in turn, notified all member states.

Armenia: YELQ defends financial aid plan as legal in Yerevan elections

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Nikol Pashinyan from YELQ bloc who is running for the post of Yerevan mayor argues that the alliance’s plan to provide financial assistance to the socially vulnerable citizens contains no illegal element.

The bloc on Monday, May 8 promised support to the socially disadvantaged residents of Yerevan who will declare in a letter to the City Hall that they haven’t accepted bribes in the municipal elections, slated for Sunday.

According to Pashinyan, the city budget will increase by AMD 30-40 billion in the event of YELQ’s victory, Aysor.am says.

He refuted speculations that such a pledge was equal to election bribes, arguing that no one in that case would ever promise rise in salaries and pensions.

The socially vulnerable residents, according to the new proposal, will receive AMD 15,000 (apx. $31) each, which Pashinyan said will help “get rid of the vote-buying practice.”

Three parties participate in elections. The ruling Republican Party’s proportional list is headed by current mayor Taron Margaryan; Pashinyan, who was recently re-elected to the Armenian National Assembly, tops the list of YELQ bloc; while 5th Convocation National Assembly lawmaker Zaruhi Postanjyan, who recently announced the Yerkir Tsirani (Land of Apricot) party, will head its list.

Related links:

Aysor.am. Այդ դրամը վճարելու է համայնքային ինստիտուտը, այլ ոչ թե թեկնածուն կամ քաղաքական ուժը. Նիկոլ Փաշինյանը՝ 15 000 դրամի սոցիալական աջակցության մասին

Armenia: YELQ lawmaker Nikol Pashinyan to run for Yerevan mayor

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Opposition lawmaker, YELQ bloc member Nikol Pashinyan who was recently re-elected to the Armenian National Assembly, said on Friday, April 7 that he will run for Yerevan mayor.

Also, the bloc will compete for city council seats.

“I am running for Yerevan mayor. Our goal is to win,” Pashinyan said in a Facebook post.

Following the lawmaker on the proportional list are Arayik Harutyunyan, Davit Khazhakyan and Anahit Bakhshyan – the latter is from the Free Democrats party, which didn’t make it to the parliament on April 2 – Harutyunyan said in a post of his own.

Municipal elections are slated for May 14.