Armenia’s opposition parliamentary factions today announced that they will not participate in the upcoming election to select a new president, arguing that PM Nikol Pashinyan has stated that any candidate must be pro-government.

The Hayastan (Armenia) and Pativ Unem (With Honor) factions, in a Facebook post today, write that according to Armenia’s Constitution the president must be impartial and guided by national interests.

The parliament, where Pashinyan’s Civil Contract faction holds an outright majority, must elect a new president following the resignation of Armen Sarkissian.

“Armenia today faces serious internal and external challenges. There is no alternative to national unity and public solidarity. But this government, which has brought the country to the brink of collapse and divided the society, has decided to continue the same way of working, to be guided not by state interests, but by its narrow team interests,” the post reads.

Pashinyan has said that the new president must be “in synch” with the government.

“We have discussed the expediency of nominating a candidate, but in the current situation we consider it unacceptable and wrong to participate in the legitimation of that election, even indirectly,” the post reads.