• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Friday, March 5, 2021
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home Featured

Armenian Protest Leader Elected Prime Minister

Staff Writer by Staff Writer
05/08/18
in Featured, World
Nikol Pashinyan

Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan addresses supporters, urging them to strike and block transport links on Wednesday to protest his failing to be elected prime minister Photo: Vano Shlamov, AFP

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Armenia’s parliament on Tuesday elected opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as prime minister after he spearheaded weeks of mass protests against the ruling party, transforming the country’s political landscape.

Lawmakers voted 59 to 42 to approve Pashinyan for the job, after the ruling Republican Party came around to backing his premiership bid on his second attempt. The party had narrowly voted him down last week, plunging the Caucasus nation into its most serious political crisis in years.

“My first work after my election will be ensuring a normal life in the country,” Pashinyan said ahead of the vote. “There will be no corruption in Armenia. Armenia will once and for all turn the page of political persecutions.”

The 42 year-old added that Armenia’s relations with Russia will “remain a priority.”

“Military cooperation with Russia is an important factor in ensuring our country’s security,” Pashinyan said, referring to a two-decade long conflict his country is locked in with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

“We will (also) be developing relations with European countries and the United States, with Iran and Georgia, China and India,” he added.

Armenia is an ally of Russia, and Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulated Pashinyan in a statement released by the Kremlin on Tuesday.

National Assembly of #Armenia elected Nikol #Pashinyan as new Prime-Minister. pic.twitter.com/ZETWv0GDRp

— MFA of Armenia???????? (@MFAofArmenia) May 8, 2018

‘Ensuring Stability’

The head of the ruling Republican Party’s parliamentary faction, Vagram Bagdasaryan, said his party backed Pashinyan to “ensure stability” in the country.

“We did not change our position. We are against Nikol Pashinyan’s candidacy, but the most important thing for us is to ensure stability in the country,” Bagdasaryan said ahead of the vote.

Pashinyan called for an end to the protests after the Republicans — who have 58 MPs in the 105-seat legislature — promised to back him in the second attempt.

The 42-year-old former newspaper editor also secured the support of two other major political parties — Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) — which nominated him for the post together with his opposition Elk coalition.

Pashinyan was the only candidate for the premiership.

On Tuesday morning, ahead of the vote, thousands of Pashinyan supporters gathered in Yerevan’s central Republic Square, sporting white T-shirts with their leader’s portrait or dancing traditional Armenian dances and chanting “Nikol prime minister”.

Political analysts say Pashinyan’s election is unlikely to put an end to the political crisis, as the ruling party retains a majority in parliament and could well block his initiatives.

Analyst Vigen Akopyan said snap elections looked certain. Another analyst, Stepan Safaryan, said Armenia was now entering “an interesting period of disequilibrium”.

Pending fresh elections “Pashinyan must manoeuvre between the will of the people and the parliamentary ruling party that he does not belong to and which cannot begin supporting him,” he said.

The hugely popular Pashinyan had in recent weeks piled pressure on the ruling party through an unprecedented campaign of civil disobedience, leading to the shock resignation of veteran leader Serzh Sargsyan, a week after he shifted to the newly-empowered role of prime minister after serving for 10 years as president.

Observers have expressed concern that the turmoil could destabilise the country locked in a decades-long territorial dispute with Azerbaijan.

Pashinyan’s protest movement had accused Sarkisian of a blatant power grab.

In December 2015, controversial constitutional amendments initiated by Sarkisian were passed after a referendum that saw some 63 percent of the voters backing the country’s transformation into a parliamentary republic with executive powers fully concentrated in the hands of a prime minister.

Council of Europe observers said the referendum was marred by allegations of large-scale vote-buying, multiple voting and other irregularities.

Critics accuse Sargsyan and his Republicans of corruption, being under the influence of powerful oligarchs, and of failing to tackle widespread poverty.

Alexander Iskandaryan: Early to Say if Armenia Will Change for Better After Protests

Share3Tweet
Staff Writer

Staff Writer

AFP with The Globe Post

Related Posts

Azeris celebrate in the streets of Baku, Azerbaijan, November 10, 2020.
World

Armenia, Azerbaijan Agree to Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Deal

by Staff Writer
November 10, 2020
A local resident stands by a cafe damaged by shelling in the settlement of Dord Yol in Azerbaijan.
World

UN Rights Chief Warns of Possible ‘War Crimes’ in Karabakh Conflict

by Staff Writer
November 2, 2020
Protestors demanding justice for Jacob Blake face police outside the County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin. AFP
National

Two Killed, One Wounded In Third Night of Kenosha Shooting Protest

by Anya Ruppert
August 26, 2020
Yellow vests protesters in France facing police.
World

Why Do ‘Non-Lethal’ Weapons Maim and Kill Protesters?

by Staff Writer
August 20, 2020
Migrants and refugees look on after minor clashes with Greek policemen occurred at a makeshift camp at the Greek-Macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, Greece, March 2016
Featured

Greek Police Fire Teargas as Child Migrants Protest Conditions in Camps

by Staff Writer
September 4, 2019
Sudanese protesters rally outside the army complex in Sudan’s capital Khartoum on April 18, 2019
Featured

Five Sudanese Protesters Shot Dead Ahead of Talks

by Staff Writer
July 29, 2019
Next Post
A Swedish mosque and a chirch

Sweden Allows Mosque to Call for Prayer in Controversial Move

Migrants drowned Yemen

100,000 Migrants Fled to War-Torn Yemen in 2017

Please login to join discussion

Recommended

Malika Boumendjel, widow of Algerian lawyer Ali Boumendjel, speaks in a 2001 interview about her husband's death during his detention by the French army.

Algeria Welcomes France’s Admission It Killed Independence Figure

March 4, 2021
Jake Angeli speaks to a US Capitol Police officer.

Attempted US Capitol Coup a Security and Existential Crisis

March 3, 2021
Myanmar police fire water cannon at protesters as they continue to demonstrate against the February 1 military coup.

Six Dead as Myanmar Security Forces Fire at Protesters

March 3, 2021
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed on October 2, 2018, while he was inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey.

Reporters Without Borders Sue Saudi Prince Over Khashoggi Murder

March 2, 2021
Hatice Cengiz delivers a speech addressing the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Capitol Hill, May 16, 2019.

Khashoggi Fiancée Demands Punishment for Saudi Prince

March 1, 2021
People lay flowers in central Moscow at the site where late opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was fatally shot, February 27, 2021.

Russians Mark Sixth Anniversary of Kremlin Critic’s Murder

February 27, 2021

Opinion

Jake Angeli speaks to a US Capitol Police officer.

Attempted US Capitol Coup a Security and Existential Crisis

March 3, 2021
What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

What President Biden Should Do About the Uyghur Genocide

March 1, 2021
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in Khartoum, last August

Sudan’s Normalization With Israel Is a Win for Everyone

February 26, 2021
Stolpersteine in Greifswald, Germany.

I Can’t Mark Where My Grandfather Is Buried, but I Want to Mark Where He Lived

February 26, 2021
Republican Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley

Trump’s Acquittal and Republican Senators: Not Setting the Bar Low Enough

February 22, 2021
Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

Why Not Equality for America’s Puerto Rican Men and Women?

February 19, 2021
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post