{"id":157657,"date":"2021-05-10T19:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T19:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=196904"},"modified":"2021-05-10T19:08:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-10T19:08:00","slug":"armenias-parliament-dissolves-in-final-step-toward-early-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/05\/10\/armenias-parliament-dissolves-in-final-step-toward-early-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Armenia’s Parliament Dissolves In Final Step Toward Early Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"
Armenia’s parliament failed to elect a prime minister for the second time on May 10, triggering its own dissolution in a final move toward early elections next month.<\/p>\n
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, who was swept to power in pro-democracy protests in 2018, resigned last month to run in an early election after facing criticism over his handling of last year\u2019s conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n
This was the second time lawmakers rejected Pashinian’s candidacy, as part of a political deal made earlier between the parliament majority represented by Pashinian’s My Step Alliance and two opposition factions — Prosperous Armenia and Bright Armenia.<\/p>\n
Only one lawmaker voted for Pashinian’s candidacy, one voted against, with 76 abstaining.<\/p>\n
Under Armenia\u2019s constitution, the parliament must fail to elect a prime minister twice in order to be dissolved.<\/p>\n
Both times Pashinian was nominated by My Step as a candidate to maintain the procedure for the parliament\u2019s dissolution.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Pashinian has continued as caretaker prime minister.<\/p>\n
Political Crisis<\/strong><\/big><\/p>\n Armenia has been embroiled in a political crisis since Pashinian signed a Russian-brokered cease-fire on November 9, 2020, to end a 44-day war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.<\/p>\n Pashinian agreed in March to hold the early vote next month. He has indicated that he favors June 20 as the date for the elections.<\/p>\n Opinion polls show that public confidence in Pashinian’s government has fallen sharply since then, with its approval rating falling from 60 percent to around 30 percent last month.<\/p>\n Pashinian has come under fire since agreeing to the Moscow-brokered deal with Azerbaijan, which took effect on November 10, ending six weeks of fierce fighting in and around the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh that saw ethnic Armenian forces suffer battlefield defeat.<\/p>\n