For Larisa Alaverdyan, the secretary of the Heritage Party parliamentary group, the National Assembly election was an occasion for the opposition to reveal itself. “The forces that have appeared as opposition since 1990 have revealed themselves. We have seen where the forces that raised a powerful wave in 2004 have [...]
It is obvious that political forces have started to prepare for the presidential election to take place next year from today and the allocation that is there in the parliament should be
perceived from that very perspective. First of all, about the possible coalitions. The worst scenario will be, if the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) joins the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and the Rule of Law Party (RLP). It will be bad, because the parliament will continue playing the role of a hole punch and bills proposed by the Cabinet will not go through any “legislative examination.” Extreme stagnation will not do our country any good. It is not a bad scenario, if the PAP joins the Armenian National Congress (ANC) and endorses Levon Ter-Petrossian’s candidacy in the upcoming election. However, such a scenario is not very probable not so much because Gagik Tsarukyan and other PAP businessmen’s businesses will be under threat. However, in that case, the Congress will be compelled not to say anything bad about Robert Kocharyan and the latter must not criticize the first president and the years of his rule in the framework of that agreement. Although such a 180-degree turn is possible, but at the moment, it is hard to imagine. The optimal scenario is the following – the PAP doesn’t join anyone and acts independently from the position of constructive opposition. It tries to fix, normalize relations, if necessary, with the other three opposition parties and sometimes also tries to torpedo the bills proposed by the Cabinet. The more it is difficult for the Cabinet to work with the National Assembly, the higher the quality of laws will be. And the Prosperous Armenia Party will decide within a year which of the three presidents to endorse or perhaps to nominate Mr. Oskanian.
The National Assembly election on May 6 was held in accordance with the international standards. Tigran Mukuchyan, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) chairman, repeated this statement of the CIS observers today. In response to a question of www.aravot.am why he had rejected Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) member Naira Zohrabyan’s proposal [...]
At the moment, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has summarized the election results from 1942 polling stations, which, although preliminary, will probably not change substantially, judging from the experience of the previous election. According to the preliminary results, the order of parties that got the most votes and will appear [...]
www.aravot.am asked Armen Martirosyan, a member of the Heritage Party parliamentary group, to comment on Samvel Nokoyan’s statement that the rumors that the Heritage Party was engaged in some cooperation with the government were a political technology to win votes. Mr. Martirosyan explained, “I don’t know what Mr. Nikoyan said [...]
Some members of the Georgian parliament will be deprived of their monthly wages. According to Georgian mass media, David Bakradze, the Speaker of the Georgian parliament, made such a decision the other day. He is going to punish MPs absent from plenary meetings in that way, because they disrupted the [...]
“There is a functioning executive committee of the Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (SDHP) and I have been re-elected, I am the current chairman,” Lyudmila Sargsyan, the chairman of the SDHP, repeated again during a conversation with www.aravot.am, talking about the application of Gevorg Perkuperkyan, the self-styled chairman of the SDHP, [...]
“Such a good situation has been created for preparing for the campaign that they find not violations of the law or big mistakes made by the Republican Party, but misprints,” Galust Sahakyan, the leader of the RPA faction, commented on the misspellings in the RPA list for proportional representation in [...]
Is Liska an outlaw or is swearing at an MP in accordance with the law? The Heritage Party made a statement yesterday, which mentioned in particular, “We were informed yesterday evening (March 29 – edit.) that the regional authorities of Syunik had put obstacles in the way of Zaruhi Postanjyan, [...]
“All the absences are based on documents. The person is either sick or on business trip – absences are legally grounded,” Garnik Isagulyan, President Serzh Sargsyan’s permanent representative in the National Assembly, said during a conversation with www.aravot.am, when we inquired from him how the National Assembly had responded to [...]
Garnik Isagulyan, President Serzh Sargsyan’s permanent representative in the National Assembly, responding to the questions of journalists today, namely what he thought about the fact that people who had previously criticized the president of the country were on the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) list, advised to recall the speeches [...]
The majority of the political parties participating in the parliamentary election have already presented their political programs. As every year, those programs mention, however little, solutions to the problems existing in the field of science. Various political forces sometimes take a rather opposition stance on the lack of financing and [...]
Nikol Pashinyan, the editor-in-chief of Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper, wrote a letter to National Assembly Speaker Samvel Nikoyan this morning, demanding to explain why MP Samvel Alexanyan’s absences from the votes during the sessions of the 4th convocation of the National Assembly hadn’t been found ungrounded. Mr. Pashinyan wrote in a [...]
In response to a question of www.aravot.am from which party she would like to get an offer, DJ Vakctina stated, “If I say the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), you will criticize me. I highly appreciate the work of three parties – the RPA, the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and [...]
The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), the Rule of Law Party (RLP), the Armenian National Congress (ANC), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Heritage Party (probably in alliance with the Free Democrats) will participate in the upcoming parliamentary election. The other political forces, if they participate, have no chance to appear in the National Assembly; they don’t play any role on the Armenian political stage either. Aram Karapetyan, the leader of the New Times Party (NTP), as a smart man, has understood that and has decided not to take chances. One may assume that Artashes Geghamyan and Khosrov Harutyunyan will be as realistic and will participate in the election under the auspices of the RPA. Certainly, it is not ruled out that other minor parties will participate in the election campaign, but it will be a more or less successful “business project” at best.
I would like very much all 6 parties mentioned at the beginning to appear in the National Assembly, moreover, I don’t want anyone to have too much advantage over the other; thus a situation may be created that is more or less like the mechanism of “checks and balances” that exists in democratic countries. However, our reality is such a one that the upcoming election will hardly create conditions that will contribute to a system like that.
Heritage faction secretary Larisa Alaverdyan thinks that both medical and charitable acts shown on TV and handing out glasses are election bribes. “It is beneficial for individual persons as much, as it is damaging for building the rule of law. And this is not a place of either sob or [...]
Presently the most discussed topic is the Legal Regime of the State of Emergency Act and implications of it. As we know, the bill was passed on first reading by the National Assembly on March 1. The press and the electronic mass media are full of materials, the majority [...]
During a rally that took place yesterday, the most interesting part of the speech of the first president of theRepublicofArmenia, Levon Ter-Petrossian, in my opinion, was that about the Union of Yerkrapah Volunteers (UYV). Noting that the UYV decided on February 18 to unreservedly harness to “Serzh Sargsyan’s shaky cart,” the Armenian National Congress (ANC) leader called it an “inappropriate transformation” and “position of an opportunistic bureaucratic brass.” One can imply from it that before February 18 this organization had had a different position – freethinking, fair and independent from the establishment’s will. Probably, the yerkrapahs showed such an attitude when in 1995 they beat up Krishnaists and others that were, in their opinion, “sectarians” or when they attacked citizens displeased with the election. The UYV was probably not opportunistic when it stated in 1996 that it endorsed Levon Ter-Petrossian’s candidacy. I wonder to whose shaky cart they harnessed at the time.
And then, in 1998, the yerkrapahs showed a very strong adherence to principles, when they joined the conspiracy against Ter-Petrossian and organized a “rat-deserting,” making super-opportunistic MPs desert the sinking Republic faction and join the Yerkrapah group. By the way, where were current members of the ANC Mushegh Saghatelyan and Sasun Mikayelyan at that time? Perhaps they were saying that a coup was a bad thing. And remind me, please, whom these and the other yerkrapahs endorsed in the 1998 presidential election. By saying “endorse,” I mean what the opposition justly criticizes today.
Sculptor Levon Tokmajyan doesn’t believe the statements that the new National Assembly will be a degree better than the present parliament. “What I see today, how they gather around the strong ones – as the saying goes small fish stick to sharks. I don’t believe there can be a good [...]
The discussion on the bill put forward by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Heritage Party on switching to 100% proportional representation in parliament has commenced in the National Assembly. The bill was represented by main reporter Armen Martirosyan. Hakob Hakobyan, a Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) MP, asked [...]
