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Liana Sayadyan

Yerevan Rally: Pashinyan Says There’s a Good Chance Some Republican Party MP’s Will Vote for “People’s Candidate”

Members of the “My Step” anti-government movement brought their protests to an end today at a mass rally in Yerevan’s Republic Square.

On May 1, the parliament is set to elect a new prime minister and the movement’s leader, Yelk Alliance MP Nikol Pashinyan remains the only declared candidate for the post.

Members of Pashinyan’s Civil Contract political party took the stage expressing the hope that free and fair elections were a possibility for the first time in twenty years and that the new government would not engage in political vendettas.

Civil Contract spokesperson Tigran Avinyan reiterated that the movement’s only objective is to hold free and fair elections in the shortest time possible.

Arsinée Khanjian, who arrived from Canada a few days ago in solidarity with the movement reminded the crowd of the words expressed by Serzh Sargsyan when he resigned as prime minister on April 23. “Sargsyan said something that surprised me. He said, ‘I was wrong and Nikol was right’. It follows that all members of the Republican Party of Armenia must respect their leader’s words and follow his example,” Khanjian said.

Yelk Alliance MP Ararat Mirzoyan said that what they had done was “madness”, but that all human advances have been achieved based on madness and a set of dreams.

Mirzoyan said that there are many specialists in the government, on different levels, who must continue to work in the best interests of the country. The MP said that Pashinyan’s team, if he’s elected, will create a group to accept proposals regarding options to develop Armenia.

“We will assume political leadership of this process and will exhibit the political will to build the Armenia of our dreams. We will continue to be mad and to dream,” Mirzoyan said.

Wrapping up the rally, Pashinyan said that, with the help of the citizenry, the internal political situation in the country has been altered.

“What happened the other day during the car convoy to Gyumri and yesterday to Ijevan and Vanadzor, clearly shows that the victory of velvet, non-violent revolution in Armenia is irreversible,” Pashinyan said.

He said that three of the four parliamentary factions (Yelk, ARF, Prosperous Armenia, have announced that they will vote in favor of the people’s candidate on May 1. (Pashinyan has declared that he is the people’s candidate)

“The Republican Party of Armenia has announced that it will not nominate a candidate, signifying that there’s a good probability that at least some of them will also vote for the people’s candidate,” Pashinyan said.

The above three factions hold 47 seats in the National Assembly. There are 58 Republican Party of Armenia faction MPs. The candidate winning a simple majority will be the country’s next prime minister.

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