In Armenia the ruling party has blocked the instigator's candidate.

[OhOh]

Armenia’s ruling party opposes Pashinyan’s candidacy for prime minister

YEREVAN, May 1.

"Parliament members representing Armenia’s ruling Republican Party will vote against Nikol Pashinyan’s bid to become prime minister, head of the party’s parliamentary faction Vagram Bagdasaryan said, a TASS correspondent reports.
"Mr Pashinyan has failed to convince us," Bagdasaryan said. "We will vote against his candidacy, seeking to put an end to the negative wave that is about sweep across our country," he added.

"We understand and accept the people’s victory. We agree with criticism concerning social and economic issues. We have taken a step by refraining to nominate our candidate for prime minister," Bagdasaryan pointed out.

On Tuesday, Armenia’s parliament held a special session to elect a new prime minister. Pashinyan, nominated by the Elk parliamentary faction, was the only candidate. However, only 45 parliament members voted in his favor, while he needed to receive at least 53 votes to become prime minister.

Under Armenia’s legislation, in case parliament members fail to elect a prime minister, another round of voting should be held within seven days. If the second attempt also fails, the parliament must be dissolved."

TASS: World - Armenia?s ruling party opposes Pashinyan?s candidacy for prime minister

[harrybarracuda]

Getting messy.... Fucking Putin again eh. I expect he'll send the troops in again. Bring another one back to the USSR and all that.

Protests shut down Armenian capital after ruling party blocks opposition leader's bid for premiership

Tens of thousands of Armenians on Wednesday blocked key transport links and government buildings in Yerevan as popular anger exploded over the ruling party's rejection of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan's premiership bid.

In an unprecedented show of defiance, protesters including many elderly people and housewives paralysed the Armenian capital, with nearly all streets closed to traffic and numerous stores shut.

Officials said that suburban train services were disrupted and the road linking Yerevan with its airport was blocked.

Crowds of protesters across the city of one million people waved national flags, blew vuvuzelas and shouted "Free, independent Armenia!".

Leading supporters on a march through the city, Mr Pashinyan pledged to ramp up pressure on the authorities.

"Various scenarios are under discussion, under each scenario the people will win," said Mr Pashinyan, who was wearing his trademark khaki-coloured T-shirt and a baseball cap.

The underground system and railways have been paralysed and a number of universities and schools have joined the protest movement, he added.

In parliament, lawmakers could not convene for a session due to the absence of a quorum, with the opposition Prosperous Armenia party declaring a boycott.

"There is an emergency situation in the country. Our faction declares a political boycott," said Prosperous Armenia lawmaker Vahe Enfiajyan.

Under Armenian law parliament should again gather in a week to try and elect a prime minister. If it fails, the legislature will be dissolved and early elections called.

In the second city of Gyumri - which hosts a Russian military base - and the smaller town of Maralik demonstrators occupied the mayor's office and demanded local authorities join the protest movement.

Mr Pashinyan urged Armenians to launch a general strike after the ruling Republican Party on Tuesday blocked his bid for prime minister following two weeks of anti-government protests that ousted veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian.

Protesters said they would stay on the streets for as long as it takes to oust the ruling elites from power and get Mr Pashinyan elected premier.

"The people will not give up, protests will not subside," Sergey Konsulyan, a 45-year-old businessman.

Student Gayane Amiragyan, 19, added: "We will win because we are united, the whole Armenian people are united."
Parliament voted 45 in favour to 55 against Mr Pashinyan, with the Republican Party headed by Mr Sarkisian saying he was not a suitable candidate for the top job.

Pashinyan's failure to get elected has plunged the Moscow-allied nation of 2.9 million people into uncertainty, with observers expressing concern that the turmoil could destabilise the country and the wider region.

Mr Pashinyan has ruled out any possibility of clashes between protesters and police. But the risk of violence has not been lost on politicians in a country locked in a decades-long territorial dispute with Azerbaijan.

Mr Pashinyan - who was the sole candidate in the running for prime minister - had been thought to be just a handful of votes short of a majority in parliament and was widely expected to get elected.

Ahead of the vote, the Republicans said they would not stand in the way of his candidacy but they withheld their support during Tuesday's vote, excoriating Mr Pashinyan during the nail-biting extraordinary session.

Mr Pashinyan's protest movement had accused Sarkisian and his party of a power grab, saying the former leader wanted to extend his grip on power by becoming premier after serving as president for a decade, despite failing to tackle a litany of problems like corruption and poverty.

Russia has urged compromise while the United States has called for "a resolution that reflects the interests of all Armenians".

Armenia is dependent on Russia economically and militarily.

The land-locked former Soviet state has for decades been locked in a bitter row with neighbouring Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway statelet with an Armenian ethnic majority that is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has watched the political crisis closely, with analysts warning Armenia's arch-foe could use the turmoil to its advantage.

One Azerbaijani lawmaker, Gudrat Gasanguliyev, called on Tuesday for a special session of parliament, citing the prospect of "civil war" in Armenia.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...ks-opposition/

[david44]

At least they are having a try at elections, Elks may pay a dear price. The Elk is like a moose on a diet

[OhOh]

Crowds of protesters across the city of one million people waved national flags, blew vuvuzelas and shouted "Free, independent Armenia!".

How many 1,000, 10,000, 100,000? Who counted them The "impartial" unknown observers, the police.......? So it could be 0.1%, 1%, 10%. Is this democracy or mob rule?

protesters including many elderly people and housewives paralysed the Armenian capital,

A standard market day in Thailand.

Pashinyan's failure to get elected has plunged the Moscow-allied nation of 2.9 million people into uncertainty, with observers expressing concern that the turmoil could destabilise the country and the wider region.

The wannabe leader failed the Armenian constitutional test, he has another two chances. Await a second vote from the existing democratically elected government politicians or win the new election when it is held.

So a population of 2.9 million are being held to ransom by mob crowds of a very insignificant minority egged on by a power hungry wannabe. Are the mob aware of the wider region problems or is this just an impartial observers opinion? Lets hope the are more educated than TB.

I suppose that is the western "democracy" we have all been promised.

[harrybarracuda]

How many 1,000, 10,000, 100,000? Who counted them The "impartial" unknown observers, the police.......? So it could be 0.1%, 1%, 10%. Is this democracy or mob rule?



A standard market day in Thailand.



The wannabe leader failed the Armenian constitutional test, he has another two chances. Await a second vote from the existing democratically elected government politicians or win the new election when it is held.

So a population of 2.9 million are being held to ransom by mob crowds of a very insignificant minority egged on by a power hungry wannabe. Are the mob aware of the wider region problems or is this just an impartial observers opinion? Lets hope the are more educated than TB.

I suppose that is the western "democracy" we have all been promised.

Oh come off it, even you can't blame "Ameristan" for this one.

[OhOh]

Oh come off it, even you can't blame "Ameristan" for this one.

I'm sure with a little digging and creative writing I can come up with some clarity on the guys background. Give some time. I'll have a look at what TASS has to say.

Good profile here:

Nikol Pashinian: The man behind Armenia?s protest movement | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 27.04.2018

Unfortunately the profile ends with this:

"If Pashinian fails to gain enough parliamentary support to become prime minister and fresh elections are called, he has said that his party may boycott the vote and urge Armenians to protest once more. After the initial victory of Sargsyan's ouster, the country may be gearing up for a protracted power struggle."

Another here:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/05/armenian-opposition-leader-nikol-pashinyan-180502113826029.html


Democracy doesn't appear to be his thing.

[OhOh]

Kremlin hopes friendly ties between Russia and Armenia will remain constant in any event

SOCHI, May 3. /TASS/.

Russia expects that its benevolent relations with Armenia will remain constant whatever the current political situation in this republic leads to, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We hope that allied, benevolent and constructive bilateral Russian - Armenian relations will remain constant in any event both for our country’s foreign policy and for the foreign policy of Yerevan," Peskov said. He noted that it is still unclear what the voting on the Armenian PM candidacy would end with - "who will get support, who will get less support - so I say (that we expect to preserve relations - TASS) in any case."

He hopes that the processes in Armenia will stay within the limits of law. "We sincerely wish our Armenian friends to approach the settlement of the current domestic political situation as soon as possible," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Armenia has seen mass opposition rallies since April 13. On April 23, Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan resigned amid protests. First Deputy Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan was appointed acting prime minister.

On May 1, members of parliament rejected opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan’s candidacy to the post of prime minister. Forty-five lawmakers voted for him, against 53 votes needed for election as prime minister. Pashinyan then called on his supporters to embark on mass civil disobedience actions. The next voting on the PM candidacy is due on May 8.

TASS: Russian Politics & Diplomacy - Kremlin hopes friendly ties between Russia and Armenia will remain constant in any event

[harrybarracuda]

Russia expects that its benevolent relations

Yes, Russia is so well known for its "benevolent relations".

[Klondyke]

Yes, Russia is so well known for its "benevolent relations".

And that in contrast to "benevolent relations" of other superpowers (please no names here)...

[OhOh]

^

I think I know who you mean, and I'm the village bike.

[OhOh]

Give some time.

Oh dear,

A few pointers to who may be involved:

What’s Washington Really Doing in Armenia?

"First we have the established presence of an office in Yerevan of the Open Society Foundations-Armenia of George Soros. As the anti-government protests built in size on April 17, several NGOs signed an open letter to the government warning that they had identified probable government-backed protest disruptors and warned against their deployment against the peaceful protestors.

The call was signed among others by Helsinki Committee of Armenia, part of Helsinki Committees which in part is funded by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. The call was also signed by Soros’ Open Society Foundations – Armenia

Another signer to the warning statement to the Armenian government was an Armenian NGO calling itself the Protection of Rights Without Borders NGO. It turns out that that NGO is also funded not only by Soros’ OSF-Armenia, but also by the EU and by the US State Department USAID, an organization as I describe in my newest book, Manifest Destiny: Democracy as Cognitive Dissonance, that is frequently tied to US Government regime change destabilizations and Color Revolutions.

The leading US regime-change NGO, National Endowment for Democracy, created in the 1980’s in the words of Allan Weinstein, one of its founders, to do what the CIA used to do but privately, has become far less forthcoming about its grants. Nonetheless some research reveals that the NED has also funded numerous programs in Armenia ranging from promoting rule of law and government accountability in Armenia, as well as funding a 2017 program for Armenian journalists to show “how Georgia benefits from its associations with the EU and how Armenia does not reap similar advantages from the Eurasian Economic Union.” In another generous grant the NED gave more than $40,000 in 2017, a hefty sum in the depressed Armenian economy, to finance Armenian Times Newspaper as they put it, “to improve the quality and increase the availability of independent news…”

https://journal-neo.org/2018/05/03/w...ng-in-armenia/

Wess Mitchell holds phone conversation with MP Nikol Pashinyan

U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs A. Wess Mitchell spoke by telephone with Civil Contract MP Nikol Pashinyan.

The sides discussed recent political developments in Armenia. Mitchell stressed that the US government is confident that the current situation will be resolved peacefully, in accordance with the Armenian constitution and the rule of law.

Mitchell urged the Armenian people for the peaceful nature of the demonstrations and expressed hope that security forces and those exercising their right to peaceful assembly will both remain committed to non-violence.

He also noted that the U.S. government looks forward to working closely with the new government in Armenia, aiming to further deepen the decades-long U.S.-Armenian relationship to the benefit of both nations.

https://news.am/eng/news/449040.html


TASS is not answering my enquiries, yet.

[OhOh]

Pashinyan calls off mass protests as path to candidacy clears

"Armenia will have a new prime minister on May 8 as the ruling Republican Party announced it will support whichever candidate gets nominated by one-third of parliamentarians.


Nikol Pashinyan, a 42-year-old former journalist, is so far the only opposition candidate and appears set to become Armenia's next leader.

Vahram Baghdasaryan, head of the party's parliamentary faction, made the announcement to the media following a closed session in parliament, adding the Republicans won't nominate their own candidate.


"That means effectively on May 8, Nikol Pashinyan would be elected prime minister if everything goes according to plan," Maria Titizian, a journalist at EVN report, told Al Jazeera.

With their latest announcement, the Republican Party appears to have backed down from its initial opposition to Pashinyan.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/...170416553.html



A cunning plan. Will anyone else throw their hat into the ring...............................

To be continued after the 10 O'clock News.

[OhOh]

Opposition leader Pashinyan elected Armenian PM
World
May 08, 12:36 UTC+3


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

“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.”

The eye's have it.

More:
TASS: World - Opposition leader Pashinyan elected Armenian PM

[Norton]

How many 1,000, 10,000, 100,000?

Enough to get the desired result.

Opposition leader Pashinyan elected Armenian PM

[harrybarracuda]

Opposition leader Pashinyan elected Armenian PM

So, is he in THE TSAR's good books or likely to be drinking a cup of PG Tips, where the P stands for Polonium?

[OhOh]

Quote Originally Posted by OhOh View Post
How many 1,000, 10,000, 100,000?

Even less, just 59 votes it seems.

fifty nine members of parliament voted for Pashinyan.

Ain't democracy wonderful.