'I was wrong': Armenia PM Serzh Sargsyan quits after protests

Opposition accused Serzh Sargsyan (left) of clinging to power after he was appointed PM. Pics/AFP

Armenia's Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian resigned yesterday after mass protests against his election, seen as a blatant power grab by the opposition. "I am leaving the post of the country's leader," Sarkisian was quoted as saying in a statement by his press service, just days after he took office.

"Nikol Pashinyan was right," he said referring to the leader of the protests. "I was wrong." After serving for a decade as president, Sarkisian was last week elected prime minister by lawmakers in a move the opposition said was designed to extend his rule under a new parliamentary system of government.

Constitutional amendments approved in 2015 transferred power from the presidency to the premiership. Sarkisian, a shrewd former military officer, was first elected president of the impoverished, Moscow-allied country in 2008. After the 2008 vote, 10 people died in clashes between police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate. He was re-elected in 2013, with his second and final term ending April 9.

Earlier Monday, protest leader Pashinyan was freed after police detained him Sunday following failed talks with Sarkisian. "So has everyone now understood that we have won?" Pashinyan told supporters shortly after his release in the capital Yerevan and before Sarkisian resigned. Flag-waving supporters cheered the 42-year-old opposition MP and some kissed and hugged him.

An journalist saw people opening a champagne bottle and handing Pashinyan a glass on the 11th day of demonstrations in the country of 2.9 million people. Prosecutors said that Pashinyan and two other opposition politicians "were detained as they were committing socially dangerous acts".

Protesters had denounced Sarkisian and called on the 63-year-old to stand down. Sarkisian had earlier refused to go and on Sunday stormed out of televised talks with Pashinyan, accusing him of "blackmail".

Voices

Dmitry Peskov, Russian president's spokesman
'We are very attentively observing what is happening in Armenia'

Vigen Sarkisian, Armenian Defence Minister
'The enemy is looking at events in our country. Instability inside our country opens a road for them to take action.
We need to tell society about this'

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