Ruling Civil Contract names its candidate for post of president

YEREVAN, January 31. /ARKA/. The ruling Civil Contract party of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has named Vahagn Khachatryan as a candidate for the post of President of Armenia, the daily ‘Haykakan Zhamanak” (Armenian Time) reported.

Vahagn Khachatryan is now the Minister of High-Tech Industry. He is not affiliated with a political party.

Vahagn Khachatryan was born in 1959 in the town of Sisian. In 1980 he graduated from the Yerevan Institute of National Economy with a degree in economics.

In 1992-1996 he served as Mayor of Yerevan. In 1995 - 1999 he was a parliament member. In 2019-2021 he was a member of Armeconombank Management board. On August 4, 2021 he was appointed Minister of High-Tech Industry. Vahagn Khachatryan is married and has two children.

If elected by parliament Vahagn Khachatryan will replace President Armen Sarkissian, who announced his resignation on January 23 citing lack of tools to influence the country’s foreign and domestic policies.

Under a package of constitutional reforms, endorsed in a national referendum in 2015, Armenia changed the governance system of the country from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary republic in 2018 April.

The president of Armenia, whose powers are significantly curtailed, is elected for a term of seven years by the parliament. Presidents are limited to one term of office.  

Armen Sarkissian was elected as President in 2018 spring for a seven-year term by the parliament that was dominated at that time by the Republican Party of ex-president Serzh Sargsyan, who became earlier the country’s prime minister after serving two presidential terms following Armenia’s transition to a parliamentary system of government.

Armen Sarkissian was sworn in as President just two weeks before Serzh Sargsyan resigned as prime minister amid Pashinyan-led mass protests that eventually brought the latter to power. 

Earlier this month the investigative outlet Hetq.am published an article that says that when Armen Sarkissian was elected as President of the Republic of Armenia, he was not an Armenian citizen, (as required by the law) but had the citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis, a country consisting of two islands in the Caribbean Sea.

According to the Armenia’s Constitution, he thus wasn’t eligible to be elected president. Hence, all the decrees he signed, including various laws, the appointments of officials, the elections, even the appointment of the prime minister, are illegal. -0-