Armenia’s ruling party will not put up a candidate for prime minister as it attempts to ease tensions after more than two weeks of street protests.



Demonstrations against the party and official corruption forced Serzh Sargsyan, a former president, to resign as prime minister on 23 April and the parliament is due to pick a new one on 1 May.

While its majority in parliament means it should be able to choose who that is, the Republican party announced on Saturday it will not to put forward its own candidate.

“By not putting forward a candidate, we will avoid confrontation and an increase in security risks,” party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov said. “We are not putting anyone forward in the state’s interest.“

Protest leader Nikol Pashinyan, a member of parliament who describes himself as “the people’s choice”, has said the parliament should elect him prime minister next week. He then wants snap parliamentary polls under a new election law.

On Saturday he called on supporters to continue protests and to organise big, non-violent demonstrations in the capital Yerevan on 1 May.

“All protest actions, actions of civil disobedience, should be renewed with new force. The victory of the people must be recognised,” Pashinyan, 42, told a rally in the town of Ijevan.

Armenian opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan speaks to supporters at a rally in the town of Ijevan. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters

The Republican party has 58 seats in the 105-seat parliament, so Pashinyan is unlikely to be elected without the party’s support. However, the second biggest party in the parliament, Prosperous Armenia, hinted it might support him.

“My team and I will vote for a people’s candidate, whether it’s Nikol Pashinyan or anyone else nominated by the people,” the Prosperous Armenia leader, Gagik Tsarukyan, told Kentron TV.

A junior coalition member, the Dashnaktsutyun party, said this week it was quitting the government and favoured an early election, but it was unclear whether it would vote for Pashinyan, who has a history of political activism and opposition.

Although the demonstrations have been peaceful, the upheaval has threatened to destabilise Armenia, an ally of Russia, in a volatile region riven by Armenia’s decades-long, low-level conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan.

The next parliamentary elections are not due until 2022. But if the parliament fails twice to elect a new prime minister with majority support, early elections must be held.