The street campaign against the Armenian authorities is in full swing across Yerevan and the rest of the Republic on Wednesday, May 2 after the parliament failed to elect opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country's new prime minister.

102 lawmakers out of the 105 overall were attending the special sitting of the National Assembly who did not approve Pashinyan in the PM’s post after his predecessor was forced to resign amid protests across Armenia just one week after taking up the post.

Pashinyan, who has been leading the protests for several weeks now, needed more than half of all the votes - the support of 53 lawmakers - to secure the prime minister’s spot, but got only 45.

A second vote will be held a week later, and the candidate needs to collect at least one third of the votes to win.

All the major and minor streets in the capital are blocked by protesters and their cars, with many leaving their homes only to return some time later.

Even the metro has been blocked for the first time since the beginning of the campaign.

The founder and head of Civil Contract party and lawmaker from the Yelk bloc, Pashinyan leads a street campaign against the ruling authorities, which has seen thousands of Armenians taking to the streets in massive protests.

Former prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was forced to resign on April 23, and Pashinyan is now seeking the appointment as prime minister by the National Assembly of what he calls “the people’s candidate”, - i.e. himself - the formation of an interim government and snap parliamentary elections.

Pashinyan has promised to rid Armenia of corruption and poverty.