At a press conference today in Yerevan, Pre-Parliament civil initiative representative Jirayr Sefilian told reporters that they would do everything possible to sustain the energy of Raffi Hovannisian’s movement but that, “The energy would have to be directed correctly in order to establish an alternative power base leading to alternative elections.”

Sefilian said that once this scenario came into being, the current regime would be presented with the request to “hand over the keys to power”.

Varouzhan Avetisyan, another member of the civil initiative, said that his group would be focusing on the “self-organization” of the people leading to a constituent parliament. This body, he argued, would have the legitimacy to serve as an alternative to the current parliament in Armenia.

When this reporter asked if such a body wouldn’t be in contradiction to the law of the land and the constitution, Avetisyan said that the current constitution forbids the toppling of the constitutional order through violence and that their actions only included peaceful means.