Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has named former Prime Minister Armen Sarkisian as the ruling Republican Party’s nomination for the next president. Reports RFE/RL.
Armen Sarkisian, who is no relation to the outgoing president, was Armenia’s prime minister from 1996 to 1997 when he resigned from the post because of a respiratory illness.
He currently is Armenia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom and, in accordance with recent constitutional reforms regarding the presidency, is not a member of any political party.
President Sarkisian, who heads the Republican Party, announced the nomination on January 19.
Earlier in January, President Sarkisian said the Republican Party’s candidate should be a person who is not involved in politics and is highly regarded by Armenian society.
Following a referendum in December 2015, Armenia changed its form of government from a semipresidential to a parliamentary republic.
As a result, presidential veto powers are being stripped from the post and the presidency is being downgraded to a figurehead position elected by parliament every seven years rather than a direct popular vote.
The constitutional reforms coming into effect also limit an Armenian president to a single seven-year term.
Sceptics see the constitutional reforms as a way for incumbent President Sarkisian to maintain political control in Armenia by becoming prime minister when the mandate for his second five-year presidential term expires on April 9.
Armenia’s Republican Party controls a simple majority in Yerevan’s 113-seat, single-chamber legislature and is expected to approve President Sarkisian’s nominee in an early March vote.