Armenia's PM calls snap election amid military standoff

After talks on Thursday with the leader of an opposition faction in parliament, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced a general election would take place on June 20.

Pashinyan has faced calls to resign since agreeing to a Russian-brokered ceasefire last November that halted six weeks of fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Why is there a political crisis?

Tensions became critical last month when the military joined calls for Pashinyan to step down after protesters marched on parliament.

This prompted Pashinyan to try to dismiss the military's chief of staff Onik Gasparyan, claiming that there had effectively been an attempted coup.

Gasparyan refused to leave, and the country's President Armen Sarkisian has also called for Pashinyan to go.

Since then, opposition supporters have blocked government buildings and barricaded streets, demanding Pashinyan's resignation.

The prime minister came to power in 2018 after he led street protests against the government of the day, forcing it to step down. There were great hopes that he could tackle corruption in the country.

According to early reports, Pashinyan plans to stand in the June 20 election.

Why were protesters marching on parliament?

Armenia has been steeped in protests since Pashinyan signed a Russian-backed peace deal last year that ended a war with Azerbaijan for control of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The region had always officially been part of Azerbaijani territory, but it was effectively controlled for decades by Armenia after fighting in the 1990s.

With help from Turkey, Azerbaijan launched an offensive last year that resulted in heavy losses for Armenia, and a peace deal in which it lost large portions of land.

Thousands took to the streets to protest the deal in November. Huge rallies outside parliament last month met with a heavy police presence.

rc/rs (AFP, AP, Reuters, dpa)