Is Vazgen Manukian Armenia’s Next Prime Minister?
By: Nikhil Jain
Tags: Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia, Karabakh, Protest, Vazgen Manukian

The former Prime Minister and Defense Minister of Armenia was selected by a coalition of 17 opposition parties to lead a transitional government amidst calls for the resignation of current Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Vazgen Manukian, Credit: Asbarez

As protests and large scale opposition grows against the government of Nikol Pashinyan in the aftermath of the country’s loss in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenian citizens are actively looking for a new transitional government. Protest encampments have been set up in the capital Yerevan outside of the Parliament, with citizens and political leader alike vowing to stay in tents outside government buildings until the announcement of Pashinyan’s resignation.

The leader of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, Ishkhan Saghatelyan, stated that, “we’ve already set up tents, we intend to stay as long as we have to, including sleeping here. Pashinyan must resign.” Protestors in the square chanted “Nikol, traitor,” echoing protests earlier this week during a memorial march for Armenian soldiers killed in the fighting with Azerbaijan.

Earlier this month, a council of 17 opposition parties named the “Homeland Salvation Movement” was convened and named former Prime Minister Vazgen Manukian as their candidate to take charge in the onset of a Pashinyan resignation. The 74 year old political leader has given speeches this past week to demonstrators in Freedom Square calling for all Armenian citizens to take to the streets to express their discontent and demand a better future for Armenia. As the calls for PM Pashinyan’s resignation grow stronger each day, its critical to look at who could be the face of the future Republic.

Protests in Yerevan, December 2020, Credit: Lusi Sargsyan

Manukian is a familiar face in Armenian politics. Before becoming the country’s first prime minister in 1990, he was a mathematician and member of the nationalist Karabakh Committee: a group of Armenian intellectuals advocating for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with the Republic of Armenia. He was jailed by Soviet authorities for blockading aid supplies to Azerbaijan alongside other future Armenian politicians and prime ministers. He was the nation’s first prime minister, but resigned the position days after independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. He formed the National Democratic Union the same year. The NDU is a liberal nationalist party dedicated to the promotion of human rights, liberal economic advancement and development, and the reunification of Armenia and Karabakh. In fact, in looking at their website, one might be forgiven for thinking it to be a single issue party. This makes his political ideology and the party’s agenda rather lucrative for a war beleaguered Armenia in 2020.

Manukian became State Minister, then Defense Minister upon the Ministry of Defense’s creation during the first Karabakh War in 1992. This enhanced the nation’s position in the war and lead to the independence of Karabakh from Azerbaijan. This moment is prized as a large victory for the Armenian people and a step towards regaining lands lost to the Soviets and Ottomans.

Vazgen Manukian alongside opposition leaders marching in Yerevan, Credit: Hrant Khachatryan via AP

After an unsuccessful run for President in the 1996 Armenian elections considered fraudulent by his party, Manukian became a strong force in Armenian political opposition. He ran for president in each election cycle until 2008 and was appointed as chairman of the Public Council of Armenia in 2009. The Council is described as a consulting advocacy organization meant to promote the consolidation of civil society in Armenia and the promotion of citizen issues in Armenian government. Since Manukian’s appointment, the Council has come under the guidance of the Armenian National Assembly and ties have been established with public councils of various other nations. He was reappointed chairman of the Council by PM Nikol Pashinyan in 2019, but replaced only a few months later.

As photos are published of the December 2020 protests in Yerevan, one cannot help but draw similarities that brought Pashinyan to power. He too was a former political prisoner and opposition leader who led speeches and rallies against a sitting Prime Minister. He called for civil disobedience in the form of a general blockade of the capital city and was named the “people’s candidate.” Tents were pitched in Freedom Square in an effort to bring about a peaceful revolution.

Nikol Pashinyan leading protests in Yerevan, 2018, Credit: RFE/RL

Vazgen Manukian seems to be taking several pages out of the Pashinyan protest playbook. He has a secured a very visible and central place in the protest movement against the current PM. In a speech to protestors on December 22, he stated that “until today, I was ashamed that we have not removed [Pashinyan], I was ashamed of myself, of our people, of the state, because I was one of the founders of this state, I felt responsible that we suffered such a disgraceful defeat.” His statements went on to call for the police and army to join with the people and “make an announcement,” possibly alluding to a military demand for Pashinyan’s resignation.

Manukian’s foundational experience advocating for Armenian-Karabakh unification, military leadership in the first Karabakh War, and past positions in public policy have received a great amount of attention in Armenian media as the background of a possible successor to Nikol Pashinyan. The support of a multiparty opposition coalition alongside mass protests in Yerevan this week signal that Vazgen Manukian’s re-ascension to leadership is fast coming. Only time will tell if it is through a peaceful transition, or bloodless coup.