Two lawmakers expelled from the ruling Civil Contract party last year announced Friday their plan to initiate a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his government.
To proceed, the motion requires support from at least 36 members of the 107-seat National Assembly. It must also name a proposed replacement for prime minister.
Hovik Aghazaryan and Hakob Aslanyan, the initiators of the motion, nominated Edmon Marukyan—once a close Pashinian ally—as their candidate. Marukian accepted and called on the opposition blocs Hayastan and Pativ Unem to back the “historic” move.
Together, the two opposition factions control 34 seats—just two short of the threshold needed to bring the vote to the floor. However, they have yet to respond. Recent disagreements between the two over the feasibility of such a motion have deepened existing tensions.
Marukyan previously served as an ambassador-at-large under Pashinian after his party’s poor showing in the 2021 elections. He resigned in March 2024, condemning the government’s handling of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict as a failure.
Despite the initiative, Pashinian’s Civil Contract still holds a solid majority. At least 18 defections from pro-government lawmakers would be required to remove him from power—an outcome Civil Contract deputy Kristine Poghosyan dismissed as unlikely.
Aghazaryan and Aslanyan, once loyal to Pashinian, accused him of authoritarianism after their expulsion and pledged to pursue regime change through their newly formed party.
