Armenian Members of Parliament are set to elect a Prime Minister today during the second round of voting. The sole candidate for Prime Minister is opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan, head of the parliament’s Yelk faction.
Second round of PM election voting to kick off shortly
STEPANAKERT, MAY 8, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS:The extraordinary session of the parliament where lawmakers are expected to vote will kick off 12:00.
Two other factions in addition to Yelk have endorsed Pashinyan’s candidacy – the ARF and the Tsarukyan.
Pashinyan will need at least 53 votes in the 105-seat unicameral parliament to be named Prime Minister. As this is the second round of vote, if lawmakers fail to elect a PM today also, then the parliament will be dissolved and early elections will take place.
As required by the Constitution, a new government must be formed within 15 days after electing a Prime Minister.
An elected Prime Minister must nominate deputy Prime Ministers and ministers of his Cabinet to the President within five days after taking office. After the formation of the government, the Prime Minister must present his Cabinet’s action plan for parliamentary debates within 20 days. Lawmakers have seven days for debating the action plan.
In the event of the parliament’s rejection of the action plan, the elected PM resigns and new elections of PM take place. If a new Prime Minister is elected in the second elections and again the action plan isn’t approved, the parliament is dissolved and snap elections take place.
