The political forces demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation are proposing to create anarchy in Armenia, or a puppet government, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared today, December 9, from the podium of the National Assembly, asking why, instead of his resignation, they do not demand early parliamentary elections.
During a question-and-answer session with the government inside parliament, the leader of the “Bright Armenia” faction, Edmon Marukyan, presented an entire list of those demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation, from the Catholicos to the heads of various communities, then, addressing Pashinyan, declared that in response to the government, the leader only makes various personnel changes, whereas in this manner the issue is not resolved without the Prime Minister’s resignation.
“And why do you, including the parliamentary forces, not demand, for example, early parliamentary elections? And why do those political forces and representatives of the elite constantly propose scenarios that have only one purpose: to leave the people out of the process, and irreversibly at that. Look now, what the political forces you mentioned are proposing; they propose creating anarchy in Armenia or a puppet government. I apologise for this word, but I find no other definition. Why? Because they put forward a candidate for Prime Minister who does not have the people’s support, who has no backing in parliament, and who does not even have the prospect of gaining the people’s support, because a condition is set that this candidate must not participate in elections at all. Therefore, under these conditions, if a change takes place and such a Prime Minister is appointed, who has no backing and no support, no source of legitimacy, on whom is he to rely and to whom will that government belong? Of course, the government will belong to those forces that brought him to that status. And during that one year, which is being spoken of, what will happen? All the mechanisms of electoral fraud will be restored, so that Armenia is again returned to the stage of electoral fraud.”
According to Pashinyan, 90 percent of those demanding his resignation are the people who, from June 2018, immediately after the velvet revolution, were also demanding his resignation — “Some of them were demanding it internally, others were demanding it publicly. Now it is simply an occasion for that demand to be voiced. Now you speak of war, but if we look back, before the war, we will see that that composition and the message have not changed. But my question is the following: why do they not demand, including you, early parliamentary elections? My answer is the following: to leave the people out of the process. If you have another option, please propose it. I am not saying how a force with 7 percent can speak in the name of the people. I am saying that the people can speak in the name of the people. And it seems strange to me that an unambiguous and unequivocal mechanism is not proposed, one in which the people will have the opportunity to speak.”
