What Happened Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Oct. 3 that he rejects claims by the ruling Republican Party that parliamentary elections should be held in May or June of 2019, calling for them to be held much earlier — in December of this year. Pashinian said his country was in "a political crisis" and added that "We are going to resolve that crisis." The Republican Party, meanwhile, has insisted that the government be given a "reasonable time frame" to prepare for elections. Some Background Late on Oct. 2, the Armenian parliament passed a bill initiated by the Republican Party and supported by the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) designed to make it more difficult to call early elections. Pashinian called the bill "counterrevolutionary," and on Oct. 3 he announced that he would resign as prime minister, likely intending to force early elections.