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Armenian opposition leader calls on his supporters to halt protests on Monday

Nikol Pashinyan, Armenian opposition leader and MP AP Photo/Sergei Grits

Nikol Pashinyan, Armenian opposition leader and MP

© AP Photo/Sergei Grits

YEREVAN, April 29. /TASS/. Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian opposition leader and an MP, has called on his supporters to stop civil disobedience protests on Monday, he said at a rally in Yerevan’s Republic Square on Sunday, a TASS correspondent reported from the scene.

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"Starting from tomorrow morning, I will be having some important meetings in the country’s parliament," Pashinyan said. "I will be ashamed if you block the republic’s streets and avenues, while I am not with you. We won’t take to the streets tomorrow."

He assured that after meetings and talks at the Armenian parliament, "all my supporters are to gather for a rally at 17.00 local time."

"I will report to Armenian citizens on results of my meetings," Pashinyan said adding that "On May 1, the election day, everyone must come at 08.00 a.m. to the country’s parliament where prime minister is scheduled to be elected."

Since April 13, opposition’s widespread protests have gripped Armenia. On April 23, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan tendered his resigned in the wake of protests. On April 25 the ruling coalition broke up after the Dashnaktsutyun party had left it. The parliament is scheduled to elect prime minister on May 1. Three parliamentary factions - the Tsarukyan Alliance and Dashnaktsutyun and Yelk parties - vowed that they would vote in favor of Pashinyan. The ruling Republican Party of Armenia will not nominate its candidate.

Pashinyan (an MP of the Yelk faction) will become prime minister if 53 out of 105 (a simple majority) of MPs vote for him in the one-chamber parliament. The faction of the ruling Republic Party of Armenia has 58 seats in the parliament, while Yelk has nine, Dashnaktsutyun has seven, and the Tsarukyan bloc has 31 seats.

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