We Were Offered to Sign an Agreement Not to Nominate a Prime Ministerial Candidate: Marukyan

During a meeting with the Prime Minister, a proposal was made to organize snap elections. This was announced by Edmond Marukyan, the head of the ‘Bright Armenia’ faction, during a meeting with journalists in the National Assembly.

“During the meeting, we were proposed to sign an agreement that we would not nominate a candidate for Prime Minister, specifically referring to my candidacy,” Marukyan stated. He added that no consensus was reached, and the topic of signing the agreement was closed. “If there are snap elections, it does not mean that we will not nominate a Prime Ministerial candidate,” he said.

He mentioned that if they are not confident in their MP who could be elected if nominated, that is solely their problem. “Either they should say that we do not trust our team, or they should resign,” Marukyan noted.

He also stated that they offered a counter-agreement: “I suggested that we agree to resign on October 1 if elected, dissolve the parliament, and go to elections. There was no agreement, there is no memorandum, and there are no elections,” the leader of the LHK added.

Regarding the reforms to the electoral legislation, Marukyan announced that they have proposed to maintain the proportional system throughout the territory of the republic. “We have information at the level of gossip that the government has a draft that is to be sent to the Venice Commission. I will call Ms. Makunts and ask her to provide me with that draft, so we can read it and understand what is in that draft,” Marukyan concluded.

Addressing the statement made by the ‘My Step’ faction that the issue of captives should not be discussed or announced, Edmond Marukyan noted that they were silent until January 12, but no solution has been reached regarding the captives. Marukyan emphasized that the Azerbaijanis are violating all points, not only of the agreement but also of all international laws. “We need to intensify communication regarding the return of captives with the USA and France, and we need to reach sanctions against Azerbaijan,” Marukyan stated.

In turn, LHK MP Arkadi Khachatryan pointed out that it is unacceptable for the government to call on the opposition to make a statement about the captives, as it is the opposition's role to voice issues and painful questions.

The head of the LHK reiterated that the Constitution created in 2015 was structured so that the Prime Minister would be immune. “It would be wrong to say that I aspire to that position. Any political force should be able to form such broad public support around it, so it can receive that support,” Marukyan noted in response to a journalist's question about whether he would be able to fulfill the duties of the Prime Minister.