YEREVAN: Armenia’s parliament on Thursday set May 1 as the date to elect a prime minister in a bid to defuse rapidly escalating tensions as top officials held talks in Moscow.

An end to a deepening political crisis in Armenia was nowhere in sight, with opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan lacking enough votes to get elected and protesters taking to the streets for a fresh day of rallies.

Russia — which has a military base in Armenia — has pledged it would not intervene but its top officials welcomed counterparts from the South Caucasus nation for talks on Thursday.

In Moscow, Russian Fore­ign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Armenian counterpart Eduard Nalbandyan while Kremlin officials also held talks with the country’s acting Vice Premier Armen Gevorkyan.

“I announce that the question of choosing a prime minister will be debated on May 1,” parliamentary speaker Ara Bab­loyan said in the Armenian capital Yerevan.

Eduard Sharmazanov, spokesman for the Repub­lican Party which still has a majority in parliament, said it was “realistic” that a new prime minister would alrea­­dy be elected on May 1.

Armenia is then expected to hold new parliamentary elections.

The country’s leader Serzh Sarkisian stood down on Monday from his new post of prime minister after days of largely peaceful protests in the impoverished country of 2.9 million people.

The opposition had accu­sed 63-year-old Sarkisian of wanting to extend his grip on power after serving a decade as president, saying he failed to tackle a litany of problems including poverty and corruption.

Russian President Vla­di­mir Putin’s spokesman Dmi­try Peskov expressed hope that the opposition and the authorities would reach “compromise”. Peskov reiterated that the crisis was Armenia’s “internal affair” but stressed Russia’s “stro­­ng links” with the country.

Putin on Wednesday ur­­ged restraint when he spoke by phone to Armenian President Armen Sarkisian, who has no relation to Serzh Sarkisian and is a ceremonial figurehead.

Officials from the Rus­sian embassy in Yerevan have met with Pashinyan, 42.

The Yelk opposition bloc nominated Pashinyan for prime minister, but he was 13 votes short of a majority on Wednesday. A candidate would need 53 votes to get elected.

“It’s impossible to tell if the country will come out of this chaos on May 1,” analyst Ervand Bozoyan said. “The situation is extremely unpredictable,” he said, adding that frantic backdoor negotiations were under way among political parties.

President Armen Sarki­sian said on Thursday his country turned “a new page” in its history.

“We live in a New Arm­e­nia,” he said. “All political forces, especially the representatives of the National Assembly, should be coordinated to establish this new path, guided by the Cons­ti­tu­tion of our country.”

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2018