Serzh Sargsyan to leave post of the Republican Party leader

The Republican Party of Armenia is ready to discuss any issue with all parties in the domestic crisis without pre-conditions and it has come to agreement to start discussing replacement of the party leader, the press office of the party reports.

Yesterday, former president and former prime minister of the country Serzh Sargsyan addressed members of the Republican Party faction in the parliament (that has a majority now) with a message and invited them to “discuss peace and stability.”

A statement on results of the meeting of Serzh Sargsyan and acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan on April 25 says that they agreed to start discussions on nominating new chair of the Republican Party.

On April 23, Serzh Sargsyan resigned amid protests against his election as prime minister. In a message to the nation he acknowledged that there were several options in that situation, but he saw the only way out – to resign.

As EADaily reported earlier, Yerevan has been ridden by mass protest actions since April 13. The protesters were against former president Serzh Sargsyan becoming prime minister. At a rally on April 17, the leader of the protest movement Nikol Pashinyan declared start of a “Velvet Revolution” in the republic. On the same day, the Armenian parliament voted for appointing Serzh Sargsyan to the prime minister’s post: 77 MPs voted for it, 17 MPs were against.

After a constitutional reform was approved by a referendum in 2015, Armenia switched from the presidential to parliamentary republic. Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan was supposed to have all power levers concentrated in his hands. Armen Sargsyan elected as president on April 2 was to have only representative functions.