Armenia's opposition leader warns of more protests if excluded from power
Armenia’s opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan has warned the country’s parliament that his exclusion from power could escalate demonstrations on the streets.
While addressing the parliament on Tuesday, Pashinyan said if the Republican Party decides to ignore popular protests against its rule and clings to power, a political “tsunami” will sweep the country of around three million people.
“You would think that in the situation that has unfolded conclusions would have been drawn, but the Republican Party has started to play cat-and-mouse with the people,” said Pashinyan, making a reference to weeks of protests that led to the resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sarksyan, a member of the ruling party and Armenia’s president for the past 10 years.
Pashinyan urged supporters to take to the streets to pile pressure on the parliament to pick him as the new prime minister.
“I turn to the nation of the Republic of Armenia and every citizen of the Republic of Armenia ... Don’t stay at home, and right now, go out into the streets if you have not done it yet ... Flood out onto the streets and the squares of the capital and other towns in the republic,” he said in a live-broadcast speech.
There have been mixed signs that Armenia’s parliament, which is mostly made up of Sarksyan's supporters, could elect Pashinyan in a vote set for later Tuesday.
“Your behavior, treating the tolerance of the people as a weakness, could become the cause of a tsunami,” said the opposition leader who was dressed in a suit and tie instead of the famous camouflage T-shirt he used to wear during the protests.
The political crisis in Armenia deepened last month after the parliament elected Sarksyan as prime minister, allowing him to enjoy extended powers in the position based on amendments made to the constitution in 2015. Sarksyan then stepped down in the face of massive protests in Yerevan and other cities while he understood that Russia, Armenia’s main ally over the past years, was no longer interested in keeping him in power.
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