Serzh Sargsyan elected prime minister of Armenia among clashes in Yerevan

The Armenian parliament has voted in support of Serzh Sargsyan, leader of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, as prime minister on April 17.

77 MPs voted for his candidature, 17 against. Now that Sargsyan has become the premier, the power levers will be concentrated in his hands again. His candidature was supported unanimously by the ruling party and the coalition party Dashnaktsutyun ARF. Allegedly opposition party Tsarukyan had a free vote, as a result, about ten members of the party gave their votes to Serzh Sargsyan. A group of MPs from the Yelk (Way Out) Party voted against him.

Sargsyan thanked the MPs who supported him and opposition MPs for criticism and said that the Republican Party and Dashnaktsutyun are no taking a great responsibility and are ready to drive the country through the way of dynamic development.

He also spoke on protest action taking place in Yerevan for several days running. “If you believe that seizure of government offices is a peaceful action, if you believe that the protesters must come to the parliament and draft laws instead of you, these are your approaches. If not, you must take the opposite side, the side of the law. Had the people supported unlawful actions, millions would have taken to the streets. You all know how many people have done so,” Sargsyan said.

He advised that MPs from the Yelk faction brought their colleague Nikol Pashinyan who is leading the protest from the streets to the parliament.