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Opposition leader Pashinyan elected Armenian PM

Armenia’s parliament elected opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country’s new prime minister

Nikol Pashinyan Artiom Geodakyan/TASS

Nikol Pashinyan

© Artiom Geodakyan/TASS

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YEREVAN, May 7. /TASS/. Armenia’s parliament on Tuesday elected opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country’s new prime minister. A TASS correspondent reports from the conference hall, fifty nine members of parliament voted for Pashinyan. For victory he needed the votes of at least 53 legislators.

Pashinyan was the sole candidate for the prime minister’s seat. His predecessor, Serzh Sargsyan, resigned amid mass protests by the opposition. The protest actions caused the collapse of the ruling coalition.

The parliament’s session lasted for less than two hours. The legislators asked no questions. Pashinyan’s candidature was supported by the bloc Tsarukyan, Pashinyan’s own faction Elk, Dasnaktsutyun and a number of members of the Republican Party, which has a majority in parliament.

Earlier, the Republican Party faction’s leader, Vagram Bagdasaryan, said the decision some of the faction’s members would vote for Pashinyan had been made in a centralized fashion for the sake of stabilization in the country and by no means signified support for the candidate.

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