Anger spills on to streets after Nikol Pashinyan fails to win backing of ruling party

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old



Protesters have shut down Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, as supporters of the opposition leader, Nikol Pashinyan, vented their anger after the ruling party scuttled his bid to become prime minister.

Opposition protesters carrying Armenian flags, blowing into vuvuzelas, and performing the kochari, a traditional folk dance, blocked government buildings and the highway linking the city with the country’s main airport. Pashinyan had called for a general strike to put pressure on the government.

It was a show of strength to the ruling Republican party that Pashinyan could quickly mobilise tens of thousands of Armenians angry at the stranglehold the country is held in by a small coterie of politicians and businessmen.

Play Video 1:36 Sit-ins and picket lines: why Armenia has been protesting – video explainer

In a sign that the protests may have worked, the head of the ruling party said on Wednesday that its lawmakers were ready to support Pashinyan’s bid for the leadership in a parliamentary vote next week. It would signal a clear capitulation by the party led by Artur Baghdasaryan.

Wednesday’s protests were a return to the political standoff that has gripped the south Caucasus country of 3 million people for the last three weeks. In a major victory, protesters last week forced the country’s prime minister and most powerful politician, Serzh Sargsyan, to resign after more than 10 years in power.

His ruling Republican party appeared to be a lame duck, and Pashinyan, who has led anti-government protests, was expected to be elected prime minister on Tuesday. He said he wanted to reform Armenia’s voting laws and then carry out snap elections as quickly as possible, to replace what he told the Guardian was a “corrupt parliament”.

But his bid was shut down when ruling party refused to elect him prime minister in a moment of political theatre that held tens of thousands of Armenians on tenterhooks in the country’s Republic Square.

Early on Wednesday morning, demonstrators claimed that they had shut down major thoroughfares in Yerevan, as well as transport hubs, including the city’s metro system and its main airport.

Issuing a call for non-violent acts of civil disobedience, Pashinyan on Wednesday told Reuters: “My only power is my people. We are not going to give up.”

Supporters of Pashinyan, 42, a former newspaper editor and long-time dissident, compare him to historical freedom fighters like Mahatma Ghandi and Nelson Mandela. Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, Pashinyan said that Wednesday’s crowds showed that the opposition had overwhelming public support.