“Various names liked and disliked by you are being discussed,” Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian told reporters at the end of another day of small-scale protests staged by his supporters in and outside Yerevan.
Galstanian said only that Arman Tatoyan, a former human rights ombudsman critical of the Armenian government, is one of the potential candidates. Tatoyan could not be reached for comment.
The issue is thought to be high on the agenda of Galstanian’s consultations with various opposition and other groups as well as prominent public figures that have joined or voiced support for the protests sparked by Pashinian’s controversial decision to cede territory to Azerbaijan. Galstanian said he met with representatives of the opposition Pativ Unem bloc earlier in the day and will talk to other political actors on Wednesday.
Pativ Unem and the other, bigger parliamentary opposition force, the Hayastan alliance, have pledged to try to engineer a vote of no confidence in Pashinian. The Armenian constitution requires them to nominate a prime-ministerial candidate ahead of such a vote. Neither bloc has publicly backed any potential nominee.
Some of Galstanian’s political allies, notably former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, have suggested that the archbishop himself aspire to the post of prime minister. However, Galstanian is not eligible for it because of also having Canadian citizenship. The constitution bars dual citizens from serving as prime minister. Despite this legal hurdle, Galstanian remains coy about his candidacy.
On Tuesday morning, hundreds of his supporters again marched through Yerevan and briefly blocked a dozen streets in the city center. Riot police used force to unblock them, detaining at least 63 protesters.
A crowd led by Galstanian marched to the main building of Yerevan State University (YSU) to greet YSU students boycotting classes in a show of support for the protest movement.
“I have positive expectations from the movement,” one of those students told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “I think that it can achieve success if there is consolidation.”
An YSU prorector, Elina Asriyan, emerged from the building to publicly deny reports that she ordered the deans of university departments to punish the protesting students.
Galstanian did not set a date for his next big rally in Yerevan. Addressing supporters outside the city’s St. Anne Church in the evening, he insisted that “this movement will not die down” and pledged to expand “the scope of our actions.”