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Armenia: New Prime Minister Wanted

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  • Armenia: New Prime Minister Wanted

    ARMENIA: NEW PRIME MINISTER WANTED

    EurasiaNet.org
    April 4 2014

    April 4, 2014 - 9:01am, by Giorgi Lomsadze

    The surprise April 3 resignation of Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
    Sarkisian and possible options for his replacement have sparked much
    speculation in Armenia.

    In a valedictory Facebook message, Tigran Sarkisian said that he
    actually had tendered his resignation back in February -- his reasons
    for staying on were not specified -- and wished the best of luck to
    the government team. That team, led by President Serzh Sargsyan, might
    well need it, for their economic policies, including pension-reform,
    energy and public-transportation fees, have been putting an increasing
    number of Armenians on edge.

    Under the Constitution, though, the cabinet must step down now that
    the prime minister has.

    Few are buying that 54-year-old Sarkisian quit because he wants,
    as the line goes, to spend more time with his family. Most reports
    link Sarkisian's departure after six years in office to the looming
    collapse of his controversial pet project on pension reform.

    On April 2, the Constitutional Court scrapped a controversial,
    mandatory retirement savings policy, that might have been dubbed
    "Sarkisiancare." The ex-prime minister had pulled the US-advised
    reform through fire and water as hundreds fiercely protested
    against the law in Yerevan. Failing to defeat it in the legislature,
    Armenian opposition parties took the case to the Court, which deemed
    it unconstitutional. The government insists that the policy can be
    saved despite the court ruling. That was, in fact, one of the last
    points that Sarkisian made in his official capacity.

    Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov claimed that Sarkisian
    has wanted to retire for quite a while now, but that President
    Sargsyan (also spelled Sarkisian) asked him to stick around for
    another month. Some news outlets suggested that the prime minister's
    resignation was a face-saving move by the president.

    Potential replacement candidates floated in the media include Defense
    Minister Serzh Oganian, Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamian and even
    Yerevan's police chief, Vladimir Gasparian.

    http://www.eurasianet.org/node/68235

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