Vahagn Khachaturyan did not rule out his nomination for presidency

ArmInfo.While there is no decision by the Speaker of the National Assembly to terminate the powers of the incumbent President Armen Sarkissian, it is premature  to talk about possible candidates for this position. This was stated  by Minister of High-Tech Industry of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, a  possible candidate for the presidency from the ruling Civil Contract  party, on January 31 in an interview with reporters.

According to the minister, such conversations should "begin  tomorrow", since Sarkissian "theoretically still has the opportunity  to withdraw his application." My name should have been circulating  because taking into account all the requirements that apply to  candidates, for example, that heshe should be over 40 years old, be  only a citizen of Armenia and be a person who has a certain  experience and given all of the abovementioned, it was quite possible  that I would be on this list. Moreover, I am a minister and a member  of the team that is in power. That is, my candidacy may well be put  forward>, the minister pointed out.

To the question whether Khachaturyan does not belong to any party,  since this requirement is also presented to a presidential candidate,  the minister explained that back in 2017 he suspended his party  activities in the Armenian National Congress (the party of first  president Levon - Ter-Petrosyan,  ed. note) .  "I consider myself  non-party. However, in a formal sense, there is a circumstance of the  presence or absence of a statement>, Khachaturian said.

It should be noted that according to the media, the ruling faction of  the Civil Contract is currently holding a closed meeting in  parliament, at which it will discuss the issue of nominating a  candidate for the presidency of Armenia.

On January 23, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian resigned.   According to Sarkissian, the reason for his resignation is the lack  of appropriate tools for the President, including the ability to  influence "issues related to war or peace". As stated in a statement  published on the website of the head of state, Sarkissian thought it  thoroughly and decided to resign from the position as president of  the of the Republic of Armenia almost four years of active work "  This step of mine is entirely non-emotional and comes from a certain  logic," the President noted. Armen Sarkissian became the first  President of the Republic of Armenia, elected not by popular vote,  but according to the new Constitution, by the Armenian Parliament in  April 2018 for a period of 7 years.

On January 24, NA Speaker Alen Simonyan announced that the President  of the Republic of Armenia submitted his resignation in accordance  with Article 142 of the Constitution, part 1 of Article 147 of the NA  Rules of Procedure. "According to the Rules of Procedure of the  National Assembly, if within a week after the resignation of the  relevant official withdraws his resignation letter, the Chairman of  the National Assembly makes a statement about it.  And if he does not  withdraw the resignation letter, then a protocol is drawn up on the  termination of his powers, which is signed and published by the NA  Speaker. The resignation is considered accepted from the moment the  protocol is published," Simonyan said.  It should be noted that  according to Article 125 of the country's Constitution, the president  submits a petition for his resignation to the National Assembly. The  resignation is considered accepted from the moment of its  promulgation in the manner prescribed by law. Until the new head of  state takes office, the Speaker of the parliament performs his  duties.  According to Article 126 of the Constitution of the Republic  of Armenia, extraordinary elections of the President of the Republic  are held no earlier than twenty-five and no later than thirty-five  days after the opening of a vacancy for the position of the President  of the Republic in cases of dismissal, impossibility of exercising  powers, resignation or death of the President of the Republic.