“Don’t stay home. Make your way to Republic Square. Choke of the streets and squares in other cities,” Pashinyan exhorted after addressing the parliament earlier today at a special session where deputies are set to vote for the country’s next prime minister.
“Today, I have the honor of presenting the candidacy of Nikol Pashinyan, candidate of the people’s movement and nominated by the Yelk Alliance faction. Support has been declared by the Tsarukyan and ARF factions. The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has said it will not oppose the vote,” Mirzoyan said.
Sharmazanov said that candidate Nikol Pashinyan had not convinced him personally, but that he would vote according to his party's decision, to be announced before the voting.
All seven MPs representing ARF in the Parliament are currently having a meeting with Yelk Alliance MPs Nikol Pashinyan and Ararat Mirzoyan.
After a meeting with Pashinyan today, Tsarukyan Alliance Faction Secretary Vahe Enfiajyan announced that their whole faction was going to vote in favor of Pashinyan's candidacy on May 1. MP Naira Zohrabyan added that absent MPs would convey to the Secretariat a certificate of their votes.
During the rally yesterday evening, Opposition Leader, Head of Yelk faction Nikol Pashinyan announced that he was going to meet with NA factions today.
The election of the Prime Minister shall be conducted by open vote.
Serzh Sargsyan resigned on April 23. Talks between Pashinyan and Karen Karapetyan, the country’s acting prime minister, have broken down, leaving Armenia in something of a political impasse.
Civil Contract political party spokesman Tigran Avinyan says that tomorrow’s scheduled meeting between anti-government leader Nikol Pashinyan and Acting Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan has been cancelled since the two sides haven’t reached a consensus on the agenda.
A manifestation of national solidarity, not seen since the Karabakh Movement rallies of the late 1980s, is unfolding in Yerevan.
Minutes ago, men in civilian dress forcibly detained Civil Contract political party member Tigran Avinyan.
The fourth rally calling for the departure of Serzh Sargsyan as Armenia’s prime minister kicked off today with Yelk Alliance MP Nikol Pashinyan and his wife Anna Hakobyan welcoming the crowds with a shower of rose petals.
Tirayr Muradyan, a reporter for the Informed Citizens’ Coalition NGO, has been hospitalized after being attacked by several people in civilian dress while taking photos outside Government Building #3.
“Reject Serzh” initiative member Armen Grigoryan told a crowd of several thousand attending the second mass rally in Yerevan’s Republic Square that demonstrations opposed to yesterday’s election of Serzh Sargsyan as prime minister have taken place in Marseilles and Moscow.
Armenia’s National Assembly has elected Serzh Sargsyan the country’s new prime minister by a vote of 77 to 17.
Serzh Sargsyan, Armenia’s ex-president on the verge of being elected its new prime minister, told voting National Assembly deputies that history would be the true judge of his tenure as the country’s leader.
Those opposing Sargsyan’s nomination have gathered at the foot of Baghramyan Avenue. Their access to the National Assembly has been cut off by razor wire, armored personnel carriers and scores of police in riot gear.
“Today, we have shown that the Armenian people are capable of victory. This movement has the support of thousands because it is a sincere movement,” Pashinyan declared.
At a rally today in Yerevan’s France Square, anti-Serzh Sargsyan movement leader Nikol Pashinyan told the crowd that he was in high spirits after reading a Facebook post by musician Serj Tankian that reads “My heart and love goes out to all in Armenia who are struggling for a prosperous future.”
There are an estimated 3,000 people gathered in Yerevan’s Liberty Square to hear Nikol Pashinyan and other speakers rail against the election of former Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan as the country’s next president.
At Yerevan’s Northern Bus Station, the marchers were joined by “Reject Serzh” movement members, striking university students and unaffiliated activists.
"We have reached the last 20 km of our march. Tonight we will camp in Ptghni, and we will reach Yerevan tomorrow, around noon,” stated Pashinyan on his Facebook page.
“Our thoughts are the same as Nikol’s,” Ghahramanyan said referring to Nikol Pashinyan who heads the Civil Contract political party that has organized the march.
Two Yelk Alliance Faction MPs today lit smoke candles in the Armenian parliament and called on citizens to participate in a Yerevan rally scheduled for April 13 to prevent ex-Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan from becoming the country’s next prime minister.
The Armenian parliament today voted in favor of ratifying the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed on November 24, 2017.
The hope is that thousands will show up to voice their opposition to any move designed to swear in Serzh Sargsyan as the next prime minister.
Factions in the country’s parliament now has seven days to nominate candidates for prime minister, after which an election will be held. The nominee garnering a majority of votes will assume the post of prime minister.
Karapetyan retains chief advisers Gagik Martirosyan, Gevorg Muradyan, Hayk Davtyan, and advisers Aram Mkhoyan and Gevorg Malkhasyan.
The goal of the march is to encircle the National Assembly in Yerevan with enough people so as to force MPs inside from voting for Sargsyan as the next prime minister.
The Armenian government today decided to allocate a one-third hectare piece of land worth 31.8 million drams to the community of Noyemberyan for the construction of a kindergarten and a shelter in the village of Baghanis.
The two were injured near the Martakert village of Nor Ghazanchi, while engaged in demining work.
The fortified settlement of Erebouni was founded by Urartian King Argishti I in 782 BC.
The valley, Armenia’s “bread basket” has been plagued with illegal water wells for years, mainly to service the large number of fish farms in the area, many owned by government officials and their close friends.
The apartment building is said to be in Yerevan’s Kond neighborhood.
A HALO Trust press release says that the employees were in a vehicle when the mine exploded.
Armenia’s National Assembly, by a vote of 63 to 26, today approved a package of bills that would prohibit reporters from attending Yerevan Municipal Council sessions and would make government cabinet sessions closed-door affairs.
Responding to a query posed by Yelk Alliance MP Nikol Pashinyan regarding the state of Armenia’s energy sector and whether the system is on the verge of collapse, Minister of Energy Infrastructure and Natural Resources Ashot Manukyan said the country was in fairly good shape when it comes to energy production.
Tovmasyan thanked parliament deputies for placing their trust in him and promised to do his utmost to ensure that “our nation becomes free and happy.”
Referring to an interview Serzh Sargsyan gave to Tert.am yesterday in which the outgoing Armenian president didn’t rule out becoming the country’s next prime minister, Yelk Alliance leader Nikol Pashinyan declared in parliament that, “I believe that Sargsyan wants to create a new form of government in Armenia and that it should be called a government of lies.”
Sarkissian will take the oath of office by placing one hand on Armenia’s constitution and the other on the bible.
Tovmasyan, a legal specialist by profession, served as the Armenian Minister of Justice (2010-2013) and Parliamentary Chief of Staff (2014-2017) prior to his election to the National Assembly in April 2017.
The bill would also strip the president of the power to grant amnesty to prisoners and issue state awards.
Armenian Minister of Justice Davit Harutyunyan believes that distributing several thousand dollars’ worth of salami and vodka, donated by anonymous donors, to ministry employees poses no corruption risk.
Raffi Doudaklian, Executive Director of the Tufenkian Foundation, was attacked by two unknown assailants in the Bourj Hammoud neighborhood of Beirut on February 26.
Sarkissian, the only candidate for the post, was the nominee of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia and its junior coalition partner, the ARF.
The issue of Armen Sarkissian’s British citizenship was raised today in Armenia’s National Assembly just one day before legislators are scheduled to elect the country’s next president.
Before getting down to business, Armenia’s National Assembly observed a minute of silence today in memory of the ten people who died during a wave of public protests that rocked Yerevan on March 1, 2008.
During a Q&A period today at the Armenian parliament, Yelk Alliance MP Artak Zeynalyan cited a recent Hetq investigation of sour cream product and asked government representatives what was being done to protect the rights of consumers in light of the troubling findings.
“Should the public take his words seriously?” Pashinyan asked, to which Baghdasaryan replied that the public “takes each statement of the president seriously.”
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