Candidate fails to get 53 votes needed to win majority in the 105-seat legislature
Agencies in Yerevan and MoscowTue 1 May 2018 13.26 EDT
Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan has failed to secure a majority of votes in parliament to become prime minister after weeks of protests forced the previous holder of the post to step down.
Pashinyan, who was the only candidate for the post, had called on individual MPs to cross party lines and support him when the ruling Republican party said that it would not vote for him after a nine-hour session.
In a vote late on Tuesday the MP received 45 votes, eight short of the 53 he needed to have a majority in the 105-seat legislature.
Thousands of opposition supporters had spent the day rallying outside the parliament building to support Pashinyan. While addressing MPs earlier in the day, he warned that Armenia would be struck by a “political tsunami” if he were not appointed as prime minister.
The vote was called after Serzh Sargsyan, who led Armenia as president for 10 years and left office in early April because of term limits, stepped down amid the mass anti-government protests Pashinyan led.
The Elk or “Exit” opposition alliance had announced Pashinyan’s nomination at the start of Tuesday’s session and he later took the floor to answer fellow deputies’ questions.
The Armenian constitution dictates that parliament must reconvene next week for another vote.
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