Armenian president says he may become prime minister ‘on one condition’

Acting President Serzh Sargsyan said Monday that he may be nominated for prime minister after the expiry of his term in office in April.

The Armenian leader hinted such a possibility in an interview with Tert.am as he was asked to comment on his 2014 statemement ruling out any plan to run for a third term.  Sargsyan said that the topic has dominated the agenda of his ruling Republican Party, and their coalition partner, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Dashnaksutyun (ARF-D), in the past months “though it has not reached institutional platforms”. The president stated the condition which may motivate him take over for the chief of cabinet.

“I don’t know when we will finish the discussions, but if we finally decide that I am putting forward my candidacy, it would be done with one reservation - that along with exercising the authority vested in me under the Constitution, I will be paying more time to sharing experience with young leaders. That’s something which is really extremely important. We all have our responsibility for training young leaders regardless of their party affiliation and political status,” he added.