Yerevan's Republic Square. (c) Gevorg Ghazaryan/Xinhua News Agency/PA Images. All rights reserved.On the evening of 23 April, Armenia celebrated the resignation of Serzh Sargsyan, the man who had ruled Armenia for ten years as president — and for a week as prime-minister. Strangers hugged and congratulated one another, cars honked their horns, and shops ran out of champagne. Everybody celebrated in their own way: some put tables in the streets and marked the occasion traditionally, with vodka and a barbecue, while others danced to Berlin-style techno music in bars. Still, the happiness seemed universal.
Today, on 25 April, the protesters are back on the streets. As one of the protesters said to Radio Liberty correspondent on the station’s live feed: “We have overthrown the tsar, now we need to overthrow tsarism.” Formally, the protests have a new target — acting prime-minister Karen Karapetyan, who represents the (still) ruling Republican Party, which at least at the time of writing, possessed the majority in Armenia’s parliament.
Apparently, the Republicans are hoping to form a government and secure power for the transition period before a snap election is held. This is understandable, since it was mostly administrative resource and election bribes that allowed Republicans to secure a majority in the 2017 parliamentary election. If RPA lose access to government, their electoral result will be significantly lower. The Republican Party has in recent years become a kind of a trade union of bureaucrats and businessmen, whose only reason to be in the party was access to government resources. Losing power may result in RPA’s fragmentation and demise. Even though the party sacrificed Serzh Sargsyan, the Republicans are extremely reluctant to let go of their hold on power.
