On 10 December, the member of the ruling My Step party and the Deputy Speaker of Armenia’s parliament Alen Simonyan said that the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his political team were ready to discuss the possibility of holding fresh parliamentary elections with the Armenian opposition.

“The authorities are ready to start such discussions on the condition, as the prime minister noted, that no party threatens others,” he said. Simonyan’s party colleague Babken Tunyan said that the calls from opposition, former and incumbent presidents, two Catholicoses, social-political, cultural circles and parts of the society demanding Pashinyan’s resignation were only demands by a part of the Armenian society.

Arman Babajanyan, a nominally independent parliamentarian critical of opposition forces, who is demanding Pashinyan’s resignation, said that his party has already held consultations on the issue of elections with the ruling bloc. “These discussions are continuing, and we hope that they will be fruitful and result in decisions to schedule pre-term elections,” he said.

The parliamentary opposition parties Prosperous Armenia (PAP) and Bright Armenia (LHK) parties on the other hand stated that the new elections need to be held within an interim government and not under the current government. “A government solely associated with defeat, loss of lands and capitulation cannot organise and hold pre-term parliamentary elections. I do realise that the authorities could take that step and use their administrative resources to achieve electoral victory and retain power. But I repeat that we have only one political agenda now: the change of the government and only then the conduct of fresh parliamentary elections under a new Prime Minister,” stated the PAP senior lawmaker Iveta Tonoyan. “We have said that after the loss of 75% of Karabakh’s territory Armenia’s territorial integrity, a number of settlements of Gegharkunik, Syunik provinces and the fates of their residents are endangered. Nikol Pashinyan cannot be the guarantor of Armenia’s security. The fight will continue in all the possible ways in the side lines of law. All the tools will be used,” she added. 

“If the Electoral Code remains as it is now, we can organise snap elections tomorrow. At this moment only we may conduct such elections and we do not trust anyone but ourselves. The opposition must have clear mechanisms to control and ensure results of fair elections that will not be disputed,” stated the LHK leader Edmon Marukyan. He also said that the opposition started the process of recognising Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state but that currently it was not expedient to carry out such process. 

The opposition party, Movement of Salvation of Homeland, released a statement warning the power structures to refrain from implementing the orders and not to dare terrify or threaten representatives of communities who raised their voice of protest against Pashinyan and his government into silence. It was reported that the protesters led by the Movement had shut down the Yerevan-Sevan road and led clashes with the police at the Sayat Nova street in Yerevan. One of the leaders of Armenia’s Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) political party Ishkhan Saghatelyan was apprehended.