YEREVAN, April 23. /TASS/. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian has accepted resignation of the government, the presidential press service said on Monday, citing a presidential decree.

Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan tendered his resignation earlier in the day after staying in office for less than a week. First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan was appointed acting head of government.

Under Armenia’s laws, the government continues to work until new ministers are appointed.

It was Armenia’s most short-lived government in history.

After finishing his ten-year office term as Armenia’s president on April 9, Serzh Sargsyan was elected prime minister by the national parliament on April 17 and later appointed to the post by a presidential decree.

However, Sargsyan’s appointment sparked mass protests across the country demanding his resignation and by the time a new government was formed on Monday Sargsyan had stepped down as prime minister. Everything happened so quickly that the new government had no time to even take the oath.

"Parliamentary factions are to nominate a new prime minister within a week. Voting will take place on May 2," a spokesman for the National Assembly told TASS.

Constitutional reform

Armenia is switching over to a parliamentary system of government. Prior to the constitutional reform that followed the 2015 referendum, Armenian presidents were elected by direct and universal suffrage. When all constitutional amendments finally come into force, Armenia will complete its transition to a parliamentary form of government, with the prime minister exercising executive authority and the president performing mainly representative functions and being in charge of control over compliance with the constitution.