Early Parliamentary Elections Are to Be Held in Armenia

Extraordinary parliamentary elections are scheduled in Armenia. They are to take place on June 20. This announced Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday, March 18, after a meeting with the leader of the opposition faction. The opposition has been demanding Pashinyan's resignation since the end of the armed conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh last fall. On November 10, following the announcement of the agreement to end the armed conflict signing, protesters seized parliament and government buildings. After that, protests against the Prime Minister were regularly held in Armenia, despite the fact that martial law continues to operate in the country, and with it the ban on mass actions. All former presidents of the country demanded Pashinyan's resignation. After the General Staff made a call to dismiss the prime minister in February, Pashinyan announced an attempted military coup. The opposition accuses Pashinyan of losing the military conflict in Karabakh. Under a peace treaty, Baku regained a significant part of the territory occupied by Armenian troops in the early 90s. Supporters of the prime minister argue that the responsibility for the military defeat, together with the prime minister, should be shared by the military and former leaders of the country, who did not prepare it for war.