<p>YEREVAN, Armenia — Armenia’s prime minister has resigned, a step necessary to hold snap parliamentary elections in June. </p>
<p>Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the June 20 elections last month to try to resolve political tensions that arose after last year’s defeat in a war with Azerbaijan.</p>
<p>Under a cease-fire signed by Pashinyan, Armenia ceded large swaths of territory in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan that had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since the end of a separatist war in 1994.</p>
<p> The agreement sparked large protests calling for Pashinyan’s ouster that persisted for months.</p>
<p> Under Armenian law, snap elections can be held after a premier resigns and the parliament fails twice to choose a new one. </p>
<p>“If the people decide that I should leave the prime minister’s post, I will obey that decision,” Pashinyan said Sunday in announcing his resignation. He will continue to act as the the country’s leader until the election.</p>
