ArmInfo. Regardless of who will be the Prime Minister of Armenia in 2018, the political authorities will belong to ARF Dashnaktsutyun and the Republican Party in the person of its leader Serzh Sargsyan following the results of the 2017 parliamentary elections and in accordance with the coalition memorandum signed after that. Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, RPA press secretary Eduard Sharmazanov announced this from the rostrum of the Armenian parliament.
It is noteworthy that before the speech by Sharmazanov, responding to the question of opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan about whether Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan is ready to give up his post to Serzh Sargsyan after the expiration of his presidential term and become vice-premier, the head of the Government from the rostrum of parliament said: "I am ready to hold the post of prime minister. Pashinyan's other question about whether Karapetyan is one of those officials who "persuade" Serzh Sargsyan to assume the post of prime minister after the expiration of presidential powers, he said: "No, I do not belong to the number of these officials. But I do not even know if there are any such officials at all."
This statement by the prime minister caused resentment in the RPA ranks, which found the prime minister's words a direct challenge to Republican leader Serzh Sargsyan. In private conversations, RPA representatives stated that the prime minister should not answer Pashinyan's provocative question or in any way evade him, but not give such a categorical answer.
To note, in the spring of 2018 the presidential term of office of Serzh Sargsyan expires, nothing is known about the political plans of the head of state, except that he himself said that he will subsequently occupy any post related to the security sphere. Earlier, Serzh Sargsyan promised that in case of adoption of constitutional reforms he will not claim the position of prime minister of the country. However, many experts believe that the situation may change and that Serzh Sargsyan can revise his views.