The resignation of the President of Armenia is a bad sign for Pashinyan
Armenia and the entire Transcaucasus were excited by the news of the resignation of President Armen Sarkissian, which appeared late on Sunday evening, January 23. How should we evaluate his departure?
The departure of the head of state did not strengthen, but only left Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan alone.
Armen Sarkissian became president in March 2018 with the support of then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan. But soon street protests began in Yerevan, and Nikol Pashinyan found himself in the prime minister’s chair. The president, who already had limited powers, began to have conflicts with the new composition of parliament, which was dominated by the prime minister’s Civil Contract party.
Why didn’t Sargsyan resign immediately after the Velvet Revolution? He claims that he was trying to maintain civil peace.
But in the end, Sargsyan reports, he never received the tools to influence decision-making. All power after the “revolution” was concentrated in the hands of the government – read Pashinyan.
The final signal for resignation was the failure of negotiations within the framework of the created commission on constitutional changes. As you know, Armen Sarkissian advocated increasing the powers of the president, which could for some time coincide with the interests of Nikol Pashinyan, who expected to sit in this chair. But in the end, the groups in the ruling elite did not come to an agreement.
Sargsyan, in his farewell statement, mentioned attacks on the family, “which has become a target for many political forces.” Thus, he admits that he was forced to resign under pressure from groups somehow associated with the current prime minister, without naming specific names and organizations. But the leitmotif is understandable, as it is connected with the desire of the ruling party to force out an undesirable president associated with the country’s former leader Serzh Sargsyan.
True, Nikol Pashinyan’s entourage apparently did not expect such a step by Armen Sargsyan at this particular moment. This was a real moral blow to the ruling regime, since Sargsyan enjoys great authority within the country and in the Armenian diaspora abroad.
Already in the morning at the parliamentary meeting, Speaker Alen Simonyan suggested that Armen Sargsyan reconsider his decision within a week.
It turns out that this possibility is spelled out in the law.
“The head of state has the right to withdraw his statement within a week. However, if he does not do this, after signing the relevant protocol, the document will come into force,” the speaker said.
Since the president is elected by parliament, the speaker of the National Assembly will be the acting president for 21 days until elections are held.
The local press is already indicating likely candidates for the presidency in the person of the representative of the Bright Armenia party Edmon Marukyan and the current head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry Ararat Mirzoyan. But in any case, the protege of the ruling parliamentary party “Civil Contract” will now be elected president.
But this will not at all lead to calm and strengthening of the vertical of power.
On the contrary, it turns out that Pashinyan, together with his party and satellite organizations, is now fully responsible for pursuing an external and internal political course that is losing support in society.
Armen Sargsyan's resignation is actually a bad sign for the prime minister, who may find himself without any room for maneuver.Among other things, it is obvious that Armen Sarkissian left his post so hastily also because did not want to bear, together with Nikol Pashinyan, the burden of responsibility for the unpopular decisions made related to the delimitation of the border with Azerbaijan and the de jure recognition of defeat in the Karabakh war.
That is why many politicians and military men from the so-called “Karabakh clan” have already left the state apparatusin order to take advantageous wait-and-see positions for a counter-offensive when unfavorable treaties and agreements are signed by official Yerevan.
Therefore, the departure of Armen Sargsyan means that no consolidation of the elite will occur, and only new shocks are ahead.
In general, supporters of the former head of the country Serzh Sargsyan and the Republican Party can be understood, because Armenia, due to the activities of Nikol Pashinyan, is slowly but surely turning towards Turkey, risking becoming part of the “Turkic world,” which is perceived by many within the republic as a national betrayal.
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