Armenian Republican Party deputies leave to decide on how they vote in PM election
YEREVAN. May 1 (Interfax) - Faction members of Armenia's ruling Republican Party have left the parliament's conference room where deputies of other parliamentary factions are speaking on the pending election of the next Armenian prime minister.
The Republican Party deputies will have a meeting to determine their stance in the ballot, an Interfax correspondent reported from the ground.
The protest movement leader and head of the opposition faction Elk, Nikol Pashinyan, is the sole candidate for prime minister.
He was nominated by the Elk faction which has nine seats in the parliament.
The Tsarukyan opposition faction (31 seats) and the Dashnaktsutyun faction (7 seats) said they would vote for Pashinyan.
The ruling Republican Party has an absolute majority in the parliament - 58 seats. The party of former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan said it would not nominate a candidate for premiership.
Pashinyan would need six votes of ruling party members to be elected in case all deputies of the other factions participate in the ballot.