YEREVAN, January 23. /TASS/. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian’s resignation will furnish Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with a possibility to consolidate the entire authority in the country in his hands, Armen Ashotyan, a council member of the Republic Party of Armenia’s ex-President Serzh Sargsyan and former head of the parliamentary international commission, told TASS on Sunday.
"I think that we are in for new geopolitical blows from the outside world, which will concern our country directly. And ahead of them, Sarkissian has decided to jump from the train. Apart from that, this decision, opens the way for Nikol (Pashinyan) to consolidate powers in his hands," he noted.
He said Sarkissian’s presidency was "vapid," as is the text of his resignation bid.
Meanwhile, director of the Institute of the Caucasus Alexander Iskandaryan told TASS that Sarkissian’s resignation "has certain logic, since Sarkissian is the last representative of the elites to come to power not through a revolution, and it created certain tensions." "I don’t know why he opted to design today. Maybe, we will soon learn why," he noted.
Armen Sarkissian, who was elected Armenia’s president by parliament in 2018, announced his resignation on Sunday evening. He explained his step by the fact that the president has no instruments to influence major issues in the country.
The Republican Party of ex-President Serzh Sargsyan, who resigned following street protests in April-May 2018, is represented in the national parliament within the I Have the Honor opposition faction.