Yerevan/Mediamax/. Leader of the opposition movement Nikol Pashinyan continues to insist that the power must be transferred to “the people’s Prime Minister” and snap election can be held only after that transfer takes place.

“We have seen many elections organized by RPA, so the new, snap elections cannot be fair if RPA organizes them. RPA and Karen Karapetyan have no power in Armenia and cannot organize elections. We need to see the situation clearly. The results of the transfer of power must be registered, otherwise the crisis will continue,” Pashinyan said in the interview to “Urvagits” program on Kentron TV. 

According to him, there is a lever to control the elections, which is the status of Prime Minister. Pashinyan believes that RPA must concede it to the people.

“The winning people must be certain that their victory is recognized. We are ready to discuss the other institutions supervising the elections and RPA’s presence in them,” he said.

When asked why the acting Prime Minister for the next 40-50 days cannot be a RPA representative and a Deputy Prime Minister cannot come from “Yelk” alliance and what exactly would hinder organization of elections in that case, Nikol Pashinyan has stated:

“The people have won. You mention 40 days, but I think we all have seen that even 5-6 days can bring significant changes in our political processes. We cannot trust this corrupted RPA system to govern the Republic of Armenia. The issue of Prime Minister is a matter of principle for us, because the levers of power are focused in the hands of Prime Minister and I don’t exclude the possibility that certain members of current government will have a place in the new one.”

He has pressed that appointment of Prime Minister must take place in the National Assembly, in accordance with the Constitution. Pashinyan hopes that the factions will take a step and vote for the people’s candidate, whose interim government will secure free and fair elections.

As for the compromise where neither “Yelk” nor RPA representative is appointed Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan has reminded again about the victory of the people:

“The people have won. There can be no political solution without the record of political situation. The balance of powers must be registered not during the snap elections, but today, now. The current political situation must be recorded in the appointment of Prime Minister in the National Assembly. If the authorities attempt to avoid registering the victory of the people, we will return to our initial plan and block the parliament building.”

He has recalled that the movement is aimed against the corrupt system and “the new government will strengthen the mechanism of compromise and counterbalance, and the Prime Minister’s superpowers, which they criticize, will be balanced”.

Pashinyan has reassured, “Our oligarchs will not replace theirs (the RPA – Mediamax). If that were the case, this whole change would be meaningless. We would disrespect the journey we have made and the people if we allowed that to happen. You will see only positive changes. No one has to be afraid, we won’t start a witch hunt.”