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PM should be elected in parliament, not in streets — Armenia’s president

According to Sarkisyan, "any disagreements should be resolved in the building of the parliament"

Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

Armenian President Armen Sarkisyan

© Artyom Geodakyan/TASS

MINSK, April 29. /TASS/. Armenia’s prime minister should be elected in strict compliance with the constitution when the citizens’ interests are observed, President Armen Sarkisyan told Belarussian reporters in an interview aired by the Belarussian ONT channel on Sunday.

"We all must have respect for the Constitution," he said. "The Constitution says clearly that there is one place, the parliament, where prime minister is to be elected, but neither in the streets, nor by any rally."

According to Sarkisyan, "any disagreements should be resolved in the building of the parliament."

"If a person is elected [prime minister] in line with the constitution, as the head of state, I will sign into law the decree appointing that person prime minister," he said. "In case, the constitution is not breached."

"Nobody cannot and must not open Pandora’s box, as then people will not respect the constitution," Sarkisyan stressed.

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.

Tourists discover fragment of Iranian missile in Israeli desert

According to the report of the IDF press office, the discovered missile was of "surface-to-surface" type

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