Armenia's acting minister of culture resigns

PanARMENIAN.Net - Acting Armenian minister of culture Armen Amiryan resigned on Wednesday, May 2.

The campaign against the Armenian authorities is in full swing across Yerevan and the rest of the republic after the parliament failed to elect opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country's new prime minister on Tuesday.

All the streets, as well as the metro, the road to the airport and the country’s railroad were blocked by groups of demonstrators by 5:00pm Wednesday.

Amiryan revealed his decision in front of the demonstrators gathered in front of the ministry building in downtown Yerevan.

The protesters, mainly students from the Institute of Theatre and Cinematography demanded that the minister resign and join the opposition.

Pashinyan, who has been leading the protests for several weeks now, needed more than half of all the votes - the support of 53 lawmakers - to secure the prime minister’s spot, but got only 45.

A second vote will be held on May 8, and the candidate needs to collect at least one third of the votes to win.

The founder and head of Civil Contract party and lawmaker from the Yelk bloc, Pashinyan leads a street campaign against the ruling authorities, which has seen thousands of Armenians taking to the streets in massive protests.

Former prime minister Serzh Sargsyan was forced to resign on April 23, and Pashinyan is now seeking the appointment as prime minister by the National Assembly of what he calls “the people’s candidate”, - i.e. himself - the formation of an interim government and snap parliamentary elections.

Pashinyan has promised to rid Armenia of corruption and poverty.