ARF lawmaker resigns after defying party decision

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lawmaker from the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Aghvan Vardanyan who voted against Nikol Pashinyan, the only candidate for prime minister on Tuesday, May 2, has submitted a resignation, president of the National Assembly Ara Babloyan said in a statement on Thursday.

A massive street campaign against the Armenian authorities was in full swing across Yerevan and the rest of the republic Wednesday after the parliament failed to elect Pashinyan as the country's new PM.

Vardanyan was the only member of ARF who defied party decision and voted against Pashinyan, who needed more than half of all the votes - the support of 53 lawmakers - to secure the prime minister’s spot, but got only 45.

As reported earlier, the ruling Republican Party (RPA) is not going to nominate a candidate for the prime minister’s post and will instead support the candidate proposed by the one third of the parliament.

A second vote will be held on May 8, and the candidate needs to collect at least one third of the votes to win.