The Armenian population was on April 23 certainly jubilant at their rapid and almost entirely bloodless success in toppling newly appointed Prime Minster Serzh Sargsyan. Crowds gathered in the evening in Yerevan and were dancing in the streets, while other residents banged pots from their windows in celebration.

Now the hard part starts.

After 11-day long street protests triggered the resignation of Sargsyan - seen as having made a power grab to become a prime minister with newly arranged sweeping powers, after two terms as president at the head of an impoverished country grappling with corruption and economic mismanagement - the representatives of the ecstatic protesters face the daunting task of transitioning peacefully to a new government and then reforming a backward and corrupt system. It won’t be easy, as the record of colour revolutions is decidedly mixed.

Armenian MP and de facto leader of the largely spontaneous protest movement that rocked Yerevan, Nikol Pashinian, plans to meet with acting Prime Minister Karen Karapetian on April 24 and is calling for fresh elections.

Pashinian has already laid out his demands for the acting government that follows on from the resignation of Sargsyan. The next step, he says, is for parliament to elect “a people's prime minister” and to hold this election within one week. Then the new prime minister must form an interim government until a general election can be held, Pashinian told a 100,000-strong crowd in the square.

Former Prime Minister Karen Karapetian was voted in as the transitional premier at an emergency government meeting following Sargsyan’s decision to resign, but he is not necessary required to step aside again.

“Ongoing political developments must not affect our normal work in any way,” he told ministers, reports Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. “I am calling on our fellow citizens and political forces to show the utmost vigilance and respect for the law and rights of other citizens.”

Sargsyan bowed out of office with surprising dignity after holding almost absolute power for the last decade.

“I am addressing you for the last time as leader of the country,” Sargsyan (seen left below, shortly before walking out of televised talks with Pashinian, seen right, on April 22) said in a statement. “Nikol Pashinian was right. I was wrong." He added: "In the current situation there are several solutions, but I won't choose any of them. It's not my style. I am quitting the country's leadership and the post of prime minister of Armenia. The street movement is against my tenure. I am fulfilling your demand. Peace, harmony and reasoning for our country. Thank you”, he said.

The existing elite was complicit in Sargsyan's changing of the constitution to transform Armenia from a presidential system to a parliamentary republic where the prime minister holds most of the power.

Sargsyan has resigned from the premier’s job but he remains chairman of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) that has a majority of seats in parliament. As the acting prime minister Karapetian enjoys both control of the parliament and the new wide-ranging powers of his office. It is not clear if Karapetian is willing to call for fresh elections or whether he will vacate the job he was awarded as an emergency measure.

If new elections are held then the Armenian constitution gives parliamentary parties seven days to propose candidates for prime minister. The HHK’s parliamentary leader, Vahram Baghdasarian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that his party expects to nominate the next premier as well.

Much will ride on the talks coming in the next few days. The people’s demonstration has caused a change at the top but the system remains in place. Pashinian is lobbying for broad and deep reforms but that will challenge the incumbent elite, which is likely to resist.

Pashinian, anticipating possible resistance, warned that a peaceful “Velvet Revolution” had brought about change but warned the HHK that it could not create a situation where they will be able to rule from the shadows. “You should forget that,” Pashinian told demonstrators on Republic Square.

He also batted away some speculation that foreign countries - Russia or the US - were involved in the protest movement, calling it a "purely Armenian Velvet Revolution."

The spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, expressed solidarity with Armenia. "A people that has the ability to maintain respect for one another and not divide even in the most difficult moments in its history - despite categorical differences - is a mighty people," Maria Zakharova wrote on Facebook. "Armenia, Russia is always with you," she added.

Reaching out to the middle classes and small businessmen, Pashinian called on small business not to fear change and promised to work for a smooth transition of power.

“I am appealing to the business sector, who were concerned with this movement, afraid of vendettas, who were ready to leave and take their wealth with them. I am telling you that there will be no revenge, vendettas - we will build a country of equality, national unity,” Pashinian said in remarks cited by EVN Report.

Pashinian plans to keep the momentum up while the talks begin. For April 24 he called on demonstrators to meet in Republican Square and march to the Genocide memorial.

“Tomorrow is April 24, and I think that with this victory we have honoured the memory of the innocent victims of the Armenian Genocide; we have honoured the people of Artsakh, the boys of the April War and the victims of March 1 (2008),” Pashinian said.

Pashinian also called for the release of all political prisoners saying that “a page in Armenia’s history has been turned.” He also said that this celebration must not end on a bad note. "We must be victorious, joyful, not a single branch of a tree must be damaged. Police must be respectful to the people and vice versa."