Vahagn Khachaturyan—the only candidate for the vacant position of the President of Armenia, the serving Minister of High-Tech Industry, and the former mayor of the capital Yerevan—has been elected the new President of Armenia in the National Assembly (NA) in the second attempt.
The chair of the NA Counting Commission, Narek Babayan, presented the voting results. Accordingly, 71 MPs took part in the respective voting, and all of them voted in favor.
To note, however, solely the ruling majority “Civil Contract” Faction in parliament voted,
Earlier today, the results of first round of voting were announced. At that time, 69 lawmakers had voted for Khachaturyan.
The two opposition factions in parliament had not nominated a presidential candidate, and had announced that they will not partake in the NA election of the new President.
According to the Armenian Constitution, at least two-thirds of the total number of votes of the MPs, or 81 votes in favor, are needed to elect the new President of Armenia in the first round—but the NA ruling majority faction has only 71 seats. In the second round, however, the President is elected by three-fifths of the lawmakers—in this case, by 65 votes in favor—, and therefore the aforementioned 71 votes of the majority faction legislators were enough this time.
To note, on January 23, Armen Sarkissian had announced his resignation as President of Armenia.
