Pashinyan: The People Must Decide With Their Vote Who Should Be Prime Minister

YEREVAN — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Wednesday that he cannot single-handedly call fresh parliamentary elections in Armenia following the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Pashinyan made the comments in an interview with RFE/RL on December 16. “The question is not whether or not the prime minister must resign. The question is who decides in Armenia who should be the prime minister. The people must decide with their vote,” Pashinyan said. “Snap elections cannot be held based on my will and decision alone. There has to be consensus.”

In the interview, the prime minister also admitted that he bore responsibility for the outcome of the latest fighting.

“I consider myself to be the No. 1 person responsible [for the Armenian side’s defeat], but I do not consider myself to be the No. 1 guilty person,” Pashinyan said, dismissing critics’ claims he precipitated the war with a reckless policy on Nagorno-Karabakh.

“The situation had reached a point where war was inevitable,” he said.

“The only way to avoid the war was to give up [a peace deal on] Karabakh’s future status,” he said. “The situation reached a point where the war was inevitable. We analyzed [the situation] and found that it is possible not to be defeated, and if is possible not to be defeated we must not surrender.”