Pashinyan to hold parliamentary elections on December 9

Armenia will hold snap parliamentary elections on December 9, acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today.

"The election is not conditioned by the interests of Civil Contract or other party, the election is the choice of people, and they are to decide,” Pashinyan said.

"The elections to the Yerevan Council of Elders as well as local elections were held under the old Electoral Code, and no one doubted the quality," the PM said.

The parliament will vote on the candidacy of a prime minister. If not elected, the parliament is considered to be dissolved, early elections are appointed. News.am reported.

Ex-mayor of Yerevan Vahagn Khachatryan, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza earlier, noted that the election should be held anyway, as it will allow to renew the parliament. "I understand that the Republicans don’t want to give up, but even if they derail the electoral reform, they won’t get a seat in the new parliament. Moreover, such actions of the Republicans only weaken their position. Politically it can be understood that they want to prove once again that they have an authority in parliament. But the population think that the Republicans just want to remain in power. Now they are unlikely to remain in the parliament," Khachatryan noted.

Former head of the Central Bank of Armenia Bagrat Asatryan agreed with the former mayor. “Nobody doubts that the election will take place, the only question is whether it will be held under the new legislation or not. The RPA may boycott all the meeting, but one shouldn’t see it  as a tragedy. I think the parliament will be temporary in this case, aimed at changing the Constitution, improving electoral legislation, restoring the rule of law and fighting corruption. After this, the transitional parliament will open the way for new elections that will be much better," he predicts.

"The majority in the parliament under any Electoral Code will be received by the force headed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. At the same time, the Pashinyan team's proposals are quite reasonable: the amendments aim to have at least 4 forces present in the parliament. And the current opposition benefits the most from it - but instead it boycotts the adoption of the amendments," Bagrat Asatryan concluded.