The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) on Wednesday declined to clarify whether Karen Karapetian will remain the country’s prime minister after President Serzh Sarkisian completes his final term in office next April.
“We are not prepared today to talk about developments in 2018,” the chief HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
“The difference between the parliamentary and semi-presidential or presidential systems is that it is political parties, rather than individuals, who come to the fore,” he said. “And regardless of who will be prime minister in 2018, the Republican Party’s political responsibility will not diminish.”
“This is not uncertainty,” insisted Sharmazanov.
Karapetian has repeatedly indicated his desire to retain his post after the end of Sarkisian’s decade-long tenure, which will be followed by Armenia’s transition to the parliamentary system of government. He was appointed as prime minister in September last year.
Karapetian told reporters on May 9 that he does not “see” preparations by Sarkisian take his place at the helm of the government. The president himself has not publicly ruled out such a possibility.
In a March 25 speech delivered in Nagorno-Karabakh, Sarkisian said he would like to “play a role, in some capacity, in ensuring the security of our people” after April 2018. He did not shed more light on his political future when he addressed Armenia’s newly elected parliament on May 18. Instead, Sarkisian set long-term socioeconomic development targets for the country’s current and future governments.