Former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) is not yet making contingency plans for fresh parliamentary elections sought by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, a senior HHK figure said on Friday.
Vahram Baghdasarian, who leads the HHK majority in the current Armenian parliament, commented evasively on Pashinian’s calls for such elections to be held this fall.
“We will move forward along the constitutional path,” Baghdasarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).He said the HHK will formulate its position only after the parliament minority allied to Pashinian formally moves to force snap elections.
Asked whether he thinks holding them this autumn is realistic, Baghdasarian said: “For the moment, we are preparing for the 2022 elections of the National Assembly.”
Other senior HHK lawmakers have spoken out against the idea of snap polls in more explicit terms. They have also indicated their opposition to major amendments to the Armenian Electoral Code which are also demanded by Pashinian and his political allies.
Baghdasarian said that the parliament majority is “ready to discuss” such amendments if they are put forward by the three other parliamentary forces: the Yelk alliance, the Tsarukian Bloc and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun).
But he stressed the fact that the code was most recently amended ahead of the April 2017 elections by consensus. He also claimed that “everyone was happy” with the conduct and results of those elections which gave a landslide victory to the HHK.
Critics say that the former ruling party won them thanks to widespread vote buying and abuse of administrative resources. They say its victory was also facilitated by a complicated and controversial system of electing the National Assembly.
Yelk, Tsarukian and Dashnaktsutyun want to change that system so that Armenians vote only for political parties or blocs, rather than individuals candidates, in the next elections.
Under the Armenian constitution, pre-term elections will have to be called if the prime minister resigns and the parliament twice fails to elect a new premier or if the government’s policy program is not approved by most lawmakers.
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