Serzh Sargsyan Becomes New Prime Minister amidst Protests

Sargsyan publicly stated in 2014 that he “will not aspire” to the post of prime minister if Armenia becomes a parliamentary republic as a result of his controversial constitutional changes. Pashinian and other opposition leaders now accuse him of breaking that pledge to cling to power.

Sargsyan dismissed the opposition claims on Tuesday, citing a “de facto absence of my ambitions” to serve as premier and again saying that his 2014 statement was taken out of context.

Sargsyan, 63, also defended his decade-long track record during a question-and-answer session that followed his 20-minute speech. He brushed aside opposition claims that that the economic situation in Armenia has deteriorated during his presidency. He listed a raft of official economic data showing sizable increases in GDP per capita, individual bank deposits and the number of cars since 2007.

The new premier did acknowledge, though, widespread discontent with the state of affairs in the country. “I am sure that many, many people in Armenia, at least 60 percent or maybe even more, are unhappy with everything,” he said. “But being unhappy does not mean revolting and rejecting everything.”

“In any family children may well be unhappy with their parents or vice versa. But that doesn’t mean a conflict,” he added.

Opposition lawmakers scoffed at these arguments. “If everything is so good, then why is everything so bad?” asked Yelk’s Edmon Marukian.

Marukian accused Sargsyan of having lost touch with reality and building a “fake parliamentary system.” “There are two worlds: your world and the world in which we live,” he told the ex-president.

Sargsyan rejected the opposition criticism when he again took the floor both before and after the parliament vote. He accused his political opponents of “selectively” using economic figures to “denigrate” his legacy.

Senior HHK lawmakers likewise defended their leader. The ruling party’s parliamentary leader, Vahram Baghdasarian, alleged an opposition “race” to disparage the country’s leadership.

Dashnaktsutyun’s Armen Rustamian said, for his part, that his party and the HHK have already laid the groundwork for a “just Armenia.” Sargsyan’s election as prime minister has “opened a new page for the dignified future of our country,” he said.

Protests Continue

Pashinian, the main organizer of the daily protests, declared the start of a “velvet revolution” in Armenia as protesters walked past several key state buildings and blocked entrances to them.

“I am officially declaring that there is a revolutionary situation in the country,” he said early in the afternoon.

Pashinian urged Armenians to converge on Yerevan’s central Republic Square in the evening. He said he hopes to hold there “the biggest rally in Armenia’s history.”

The 42-year-old leader of the opposition Civil Contract party continued to defy police warnings to end his “illegal gatherings” or face their violent dispersal by security forces. The police said the use of force could start “at any necessary moment.”

Pashinian demonstratively ripped up one such written warning that was delivered to him by a senior police officer early in the morning. He then told about 100 supporters to walk from the city’s France Square, the focal point of the protests, to other parts of downtown Yerevan. The crowd grew much bigger in the following hours.

Also in the morning, police detained a separate group of protesters who tried to block traffic elsewhere in the city center. Pashinian spoke afterwards of around 30 detentions. The police did not confirm this number.

Meanwhile, dozens of other opposition supporters gathered at a street intersection in the city’s western Ajapnyak district. They briefly scuffled with police after blocking it. Some of them then sat on the ground to keep traffic blocked.

The parliament met at noon to elect Armenia’s new prime minister amid unusually tight security in and around its building. Hundreds of riot police and interior troops were deployed on nearby streets, including Marshal Bagramian Avenue, one of Yerevan’s main arteries which was the scene of clashes between police and Pashinian-led demonstrators on Monday. The security forces stood there behind several rows of razor wire.

Protests in Armenia have continued for the fifth straight day shutting Yerevan’s downtown. As many as 46 people, including six police officers, were reported injured during a clash on April 16.

At least 80 mostly young people were detained on Tuesday during continuing anti-government protests in Yerevan.

The Pashinian’s wife told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that their teenage son Ashot was also taken into custody but set free about three hours later. A police spokesperson denied this, however.

The detainees included about two dozen student activists who were demonstrating jointly early in the morning. They were taken to a police station in the city’s northern Nor Nork district and were kept there as of late afternoon. Two of them, Vahan Kostanian and Davit Petrosian, are well-known activists.

(RFE/RL, Arka and news.am contributed to this report.)