Republican Party of Armenia ‘will ensure quorum’ for opposition’s joint prime ministerial nominee - lawmaker

Should the opposition parties represented in parliament agree on a joint candidate for the prime minister, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) will ensure the necessary quorum to endorse their nominee, says a senior lawmaker of the ruling political force.

Vahram Baghdasaryan, the leader of the RPA faction in parliament, made the statement on Sunday after talks with Nikol Pashinyan of the opposition Yelk (Way Out) faction.

“We will not hamper the electoral process,” he said.

The National Assembly is to convene a special session on Monday to consider the candidacy of the new prime minister.

So far, only one parliamentary force, the ARF-D (Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaksutyun), has expressed support to Pashinyan’s candidacy.

In a televised interview on Saturday, the opposition Tsarukyan alliance’s leader, Gagik Tsarukyan, said their political team is committed to support the “candidate of people”.

It came after RPA Press Secretary Eduard Sharmazanov’s made a groundbreaking statement earlier on Saturday saying that their party had decided against putting up a candidate for prime minister.

Baghdasaryan said they also asked the opposition leader to end the public rallies and attempts to block the streets “not to disrupt the peace of people”.

“That will allow us to head to the election in an organized way. Such was our agreement,” he added.