YEREVAN. May 15 (Interfax) - Almost half of Armenians see Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's performance as negative and support a group of activists led by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan of the Armenian Apostolic Church who demand Pashinyan's resignation, as seen from findings of a public opinion poll conducted by the Armenian office of Gallup International Association and circulated in Yerevan on Wednesday.
The poll showed that 41.1% of the respondents view Pashinyan's performance as prime minister as "absolutely negative," and only 9.1% "absolutely positive."
On the other hand, 35.1% of those polled described the Tavush in the Name of the Homeland movement led by Galstanyan as "absolutely positive," while 23.5% viewed it as "absolutely negative."
In the view of 30.6% of the respondents, Pashinyan must resign, 9.3% insist on his impeachment at the parliament, and 8.4% demand his arrest, while 19.1% believe Pashinyan should not resign.
As many as 50.5% of those polled were unable to say who could lead an interim government, and 6.7% believe it should be Galstanyan. Pashinyan was not mentioned in this context.
At the same time, 12.8% of the respondents said they would vote for Pashinyan's Civil Contract party and 3.9% for Galstanyan in hypothetical parliamentary elections held next Sunday.
On May 4, Galstanyan, primate of the Tavush diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, announced a procession and protests in Yerevan starting May 9 at the blessing of Catholicos Karekin II of All Armenians against the Armenian government's policy of border delimitation with Azerbaijan. Galstanyan has been joined by the primates of all other Armenian Apostolic Church dioceses by starting processions from different parts of the country. Galstanyan demanded that Pashinyan resign. Protests demanding the prime minister's resignation have taken place in Armenia on a daily basis lately.