'I was wrong'

Armenia's Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian resigned yesterday after mass protests against his election, seen as a blatant power grab by the opposition.

"I am leaving the post of the country's leader," Sarkisian was quoted as saying in a statement by his press service, just days after he took office.

"Nikol Pashinyan was right," he said referring to the leader of the protests. "I was wrong."

After serving for a decade as president, Sarkisian was last week elected prime minister by lawmakers in a move the opposition said was designed to extend his rule under a new parliamentary system of government.

Constitutional amendments approved in 2015 transferred power from the presidency to the premiership.

Sarkisian, a former military officer, was first elected president of the Moscow-allied country in 2008.

After the 2008 vote, 10 people died in clashes between police and supporters of the defeated opposition candidate.

He was re-elected in 2013, with his second and final term ending April 9. Earlier yesterday, protest leader Pashinyan was freed after police detained him Sunday following failed talks with Sarkisian.