Edmon Marukyan Has Plans

According to the newspaper "Zhoghovurd", on December 25, 2020, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan invited parliamentary and interested extra-parliamentary forces for consultations regarding the holding of early parliamentary elections in 2021.

The political negotiations did not yield results, as opposition parties state that they do not wish to go to elections with Pashinyan, and he must resign.

Options for early elections are also being discussed behind the scenes, and the government is facing a serious issue. The fact is that as much as they want to hold early elections, there are legal grounds and processes full of obstacles required for that.

Article 149 of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia states: "In cases of resignation of the Prime Minister or other cases where the office of the Prime Minister becomes vacant, within a seven-day period after the acceptance of the resignation of the Government, factions of the National Assembly have the right to nominate candidates for the Prime Minister's office. The National Assembly elects the Prime Minister by a majority of votes of the total number of deputies. If the Prime Minister is not elected, a new election for the Prime Minister is held seven days after the voting, in which candidates for the Prime Minister's office nominated by at least one-third of the total number of deputies have the right to participate. If the Prime Minister is not elected by a majority of the votes of the total number of deputies, the National Assembly is dissolved by law."

In the case of a parliament with 132 deputies, the Prime Minister must be elected with 66 votes in favor. However, according to information from the newspaper "Zhoghovurd", Edmon Marukyan, the head of the "Enlightened Armenia" party, seems to disagree with that option and has stated during various discussions with government officials that when Pashinyan resigns, he will nominate his candidacy for the position of Prime Minister.

He is also in negotiations with the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), which is known to have no ambitions to nominate a candidate for Prime Minister, thus leaving Marukyan as the only candidate who can be nominated in parliament. However, "Zhoghovurd" learned that one of the independent deputies also has similar ambitions, which means that the legal process of dissolving the parliament is filled with obstacles.

Based on this situation, it seems that Nikol Pashinyan is inclined to go for another election. In any case, he has instructed the "Civil Contract" party to organize active meetings to gauge public sentiment; however, he is in no hurry to announce a specific date for the elections.