Yerevan: Armenia’s protest leader Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday failed to get elected prime minister after the ruling party withheld its support in a crucial vote, raising fears of worsening political turmoil.
Lawmakers voted 45 in favour to 55 against Pashinyan, with the ruling Republican Party rejecting his candidacy after hours of deliberations during a day-long extraordinary parliament session.
“The political force which declared a war against its own people has destroyed itself,” Pashinyan said in parliament after the vote.
“No one will be able to take victory away from the people.”
The Republican Party headed by the ousted former prime minister Sezh Sarkisian withheld support for the protest leader despite tens of thousands massing in the streets and Pashinyan warning that the lawmakers’ unwillingness to back him could lead to a “political tsunami.”
Huge crowds had earlier gathered in central Yerevan, clutching tricolour flags and watching a live video stream from the tense hearing on a giant screen.
Pashinyan, who was the only candidate for prime minister, told lawmakers earlier that members of Armenia’s former ruling elite were seeking a political comeback.
Pashinyan, who spearheaded weeks of mass protests that led to the resignation of the veteran leader Sarkisian last month, has insisted that only he can rid the ex-Soviet nation of corruption and poverty and conduct free and fair elections.
He had been thought to be just a handful of votes short of a majority in parliament. In a further blow to the opposition, a lawmaker from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation party which has agreed to back Pashinyan, earlier Tuesday announced he would not back him.
Ahead of the vote lawmakers from the Republican Party grilled Pashinyan on a number of technical issues in an apparent effort to make him appear incompetent. — AFP
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