Pashinyan invites Armenian political forces to consultations on 2021 snap elections

YEREVAN, December 25. /TASS/. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan invited Armenian political forces to take part in consultations on 2021 snap parliamentary elections.

“I invite the parliamentary and interested foreign parliamentary forces to hold extraordinary parliamentary elections in 2021,” the prime minister said on Facebook.

The prime minister stated that the opposition’s move to have him resigned was not supported by the people. According to Pashinyan, the opposition was free to act as the government did not use force to retain power.

Protests demanding Pashinyan’s resignation have been ongoing in Armenia for over a month already. The opposition claims that the November 9 trilateral ceasefire agreement on Nagorno-Karabakh was a capitulation. His opponents also blame Pashinyan for the economic and social troubles in the republic.

Amid the ongoing turmoil, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian called for snap elections as preceded by delegating power to an interim government. Pashinyan refused to resign, arguing that any change of government must take place via elections. Some of his proponents have already said they do not rule out snap elections.