The coalition has formed a delegation

It happened after long finicality of the authority representatives

At the end of last week it became known that after long “airs and graces” the national authorities had officially agreed on another offer-demand of the Armenian National Congress and made a statement of forming a delegation to negotiate with the latter this time not on the RPA press secretary level, but on the RA President’s press secretary level. The names of the members of the government delegation are already known – there are two members from each of the parties representing the government coalition, Davit Harutyunyan and Gagik Minasyan from the RPA, Naira Zohrabyan and Vardan Bostanjyan from the PAP and RLP deputy chairman Mher Shahgeldyan and NA MP Khachik Harutyunyan. Of course, the RPA does not rush to comment on this fact, waiting for a decision, an order or an assignment of appointing the delegation composition to come. And while we are waiting for the “airs and graces” answer of the government, “Aravot” talked to a specialist on election and political technologies Armen Badalyan. At first he noted that the authorities had been wrong when they had distinguished between having a dialogue and negotiating, because, according to him, a dialogue is a phenomenon that is reflected in different formats, including discussions, debates, press conferences and negotiations. The decision of the authorities to form a delegation to negotiate, according to Badalyan, cannot be perceived as a surprise, “because Serzh Sargsyan has already pointed out names in his speech; Hovik Abrahamyan , Tigran Sargsyan and Karen Karapetyan, he also said that the coalition forces can meet and listen to the ANC representatives, if needed.” However he also thought necessary that the authorities clarified and formalized that delegation of theirs and set their agenda. “The coalition has to make an appropriate statement for that, authorizing its representatives to negotiate with the ANC and set the agenda. Of course, this sounds formal, but it has to be done”. Let us remind that the coalition representatives say that they do not have an agenda, they are ready to listen to the opposition and after the first meeting only, are they ready to set the agenda. “If the government delegation has no negotiation agenda, then it is not forming any delegation. The authorities do everything, but it turns out with a few “airs and fairs”. If two forces sit around a negotiation table, then they are equal forces. Probably, it is hard for the authorities to accept that very fact of equality. Perhaps the authorities have a complex of underestimation and that is perhaps what impedes them. If the authorities are ready to negotiate on the level of delegations, then they must have their own agenda”, said Badalyan.
After forming the government delegation, there were remarks in the reactions like, S.Sargsyan was forced to go for that move that was perhaps not desirable for him, because he faced serious interior and exterior problems. A. Badalyan was inclined to agree on that viewpoint and mentioned three factors in that context; interior and exterior political – the displeasure of the society in the social and economic context, the positions of the West and Russia whose interests in the RA interior political developments can at some point coincide with the positions of both the authorities and the opposition, also the Karabakh issue, “In my opinion, that issue has no importance in the interior political processes, but the ANC can make it important . Thus the combination of these three issues can overthrow the government and these are the very reasons that forced the authorities to think of negotiating with the ANC to prevent some processes.” The election and political technologies specialist also noted that as a result of the negotiation process, both the government and the ANC could gain dividends or lose rating, both benefit and strengthen their position and lose what they had, but it depended on the work they would do with the society and the electorate. He did not agree at the same time with the viewpoint that if the government decides to form a delegation, it can also testify to at least not ruling out holding the pre-term elections, “One of the negotiation principles is exactly that each of the sides has its own agenda. The ANC agenda is known, the coalition agenda can be quite different. The fact that Serzh Sargsyan, as the head of the coalition, agreed on the negotiations certainly does not mean that he agrees on holding the pre-term elections. He can both agree and disagree. There is no causation here.” Moreover, in his view, holding the pre-term elections depends on the position and interests of the exterior forces, especially in the context of the Karabakh issue. According to Badalyan, it is unknown, until a document is signed on the Karabakh conflict, whether holding the pre-term elections in the RA that will put off the conflict settlement for a few more years is in the interest of the exterior forces.