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Armenian ruling party says PM Pashinyan will not resign

Grass-roots protests against the delimitation and demarcation of the border with Azerbaijan in the Tavush region and ceding four villages to Baku are coordinated by the Tavush for the Homeland movement

YEREVAN, May 17. /TASS/. Armenian Prime Minster Nikol Pashinyan will not resign, as the opposition demands, and regular parliamentary elections will be held in 2026, Sargis Khandanyan, head of the parliamentary commission for foreign ties and a member of the ruling Civil Contract party.

"Our party cannot meet [with the opposition’s spiritual leader, Archbishop Bagrat] on the agenda you are talking about (Pashinyan’s resignation - TASS). At the parliamentary elections in 2021, Armenia’s citizens elected the parliament, which formed the government, and the government has its head, the prime minister. The only legitimate way to change the Armenian government is at the next parliamentary elections in 2026. Armenia’s Prime Minister is Nikol Pashinyan, and we are not going to discuss this matter with anyone," he told a briefing.

Grass-roots protests against the delimitation and demarcation of the border with Azerbaijan in the Tavush region and ceding four villages to Baku are coordinated by the Tavush for the Homeland movement. The movement is led by archbishop Bagrat, who has been accused by government- and Western-sponsored mass media, bloggers and experts of being paid by Russia to organize the protests. During a mass rally in downtown Yerevan on May 9, Bagrat called for Pashinyan’s resignation and said that opposition factions in parliament have kicked off the process of impeachment.

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