Armenia's pro-democracy movement defiant in face of parliament rejection

MOSCOW — Armenia’s pro-democracy movement ratcheted up the pressure on Wednesday with protesters blocking major roads and paralyzing parts of the country a day after the parliament voted against making opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan prime minister. 

 Pashinyan hailed the revolt, which blocked the landlocked country’s highways to neighboring Iran and Georgia and drew in workers from the country’s sole international airport, as the biggest show of nonviolent force yet in his anti-government movement that has seen weeks of protests. 

“This is unprecedented. Our tactics are to increase pressure until the administration changes,” Interfax news agency quoted Pashinyan as saying. 

Armenia’s parliament voted 55 to 45 against making the 42-year-old protest leader prime minister, two weeks after Serzh Sargsyan was ousted from the post. Protesters clambered atop large trucks in the center of the capital, Yerevan, where they whistled and waved Armenian flags, live footage showed. 

The tiny country of 3 million is now bracing itself for potential political gridlock. By law, a new parliamentary vote will take place May 8. If that also fails, parliament will be dissolved and new elections would need to take place at least a month later. Acting prime minister Karen Karapetyan, a close ally of Sargsyan’s and a former executive at the Russian gas giant Gazprom, will stay in place. 

Karapetyan on Wednesday urged calm, asking “all political forces to demonstrate their will, determination and flexibility.” 

[Armenia’s revolution enters new stage as Russia begins to take notice]

Impoverished and small, Armenia has long relied on Russia, which also operates two military bases in its country, for its energy needs. Armenia also counts on Russia for keeping its simmering conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan at bay, although Moscow sells arms to both countries.  

Though Pashinyan has repeatedly insisted his movement is unmotivated by geopolitics, and instead by the need to dismantle the ruling elite’s authoritarian grip on power, Russia has been steadily emerging as a player in Armenia’s revolution. 

In an open letter to Russian President Vladi­mir Putin on Wednesday, the director of a reputable Armenian news site urged the leader to stay out of Armenian politics. 

“Trust me, the May 1 debates in Armenian parliament have reduced, not increased the number of people sincerely supporting stronger ties with Russia,” Ara Tadevosyan wrote in MediaMax. “You have so many concerns in Russia and globally, (the ruling Republican Party) isn’t worth your time,” 

“Even you,” Tadevosyan wrote to Putin, “cannot breathe a new life into it.” 

Ahead of the vote on Tuesday, lawmakers from the Republican Party grilled Pashinyan on a range of topics, including questioning his lack of allegiance to Russia, which he refuted as “nonsense.”

Read more:

Armenia’s parliament rejects opposition leader as new prime minister 

Armenians await change of government after peaceful revolt 

Armenia’s prime minister resigns amid large-scale protests 

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