An extraordinary session of the Armenian parliament took place today (3 May) as lawmakers conducted a vote to elect a new Armenian prime minister following the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan last month. The activity ran as a formality, with parliamentarians voting down Pashinyan, who has been nominated as the only candidate by his My Step party, as part of the process to trigger new Armenian parliamentary elections.
In Armenian law, if the prime minister resigns and parliament fails twice to elect a new prime minister, the parliament is automatically dissolved, and snap parliamentary elections take place. In recent months, Pashinyan has outlined the process, promising that after his resignation, his My Step party would twice formally nominate him as leader before voting him down, fulfilling the technical requirements to disband the Armenian legislature – a point that he reiterated today during his speech in parliament. Pashinyan warned that if there were attempts to force a different scenario during the second round of voting, scheduled to take place next week, his party would elect a prime minister.
Following this process, elections are scheduled to take place on 20 June 2021.