And the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Heritage Party think that PAP makes that move not losing anything
The Prosperous Armenia Party, being severely criticized by the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) the day before, stated that it joins the initiative of the parliamentary opposition ARF and Heritage factions to hold hearings on proportional and majoritarian representation. The PAP members explain that their party program provides for 100% proportional representation, therefore it is acceptable for them. However, the political reality in Armenia at present is that the whole opposition camp, now partially coalition PAP too, is united around the idea of holding the upcoming election through 100% proportional representation – PAP has 10 majoritarian seats in the parliament. And the Republican Party, along with the coalition Rule of Law Party (RLP), grasps at 41 majoritarian seats.
How do the opposition forces assess this attitude of PAP? Does PAP try to “show its teeth” by that? In response to Aravot’s question, Petros Makeyan, the leader of the Democratic Motherland Party, a member-party of the Armenian National Congress, said the following, “God grant PAP tries not to ‘show its teeth’ to the establishment, but is honest in its longings and with the opposition forces, which certainly will contribute to accelerating the process of establishing constitutional order in the country.” Since the Democratic Motherland Party was against first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrossian’s reverence shown to PAP from the beginning, we also inquired from Petros Makeyan whether the party led by him would leave ANC, if PAP joined the opposition camp after all. The answer was, “Those have nothing to do with each other. We have expressed our concern and dissent, adding that there certainly are concerned people in PAP and if the party decides to come back to the people after all the past games and paths, I think there will be no problem. Our party doesn’t discuss this issue. But God grant PAP makes such a decision.”
In response to a question whether PAP tried to “show its teeth” to the establishment by joining the parliamentary opposition proposal, Larissa Alaverdyan, a member of the Heritage faction, said, “I wouldn’t put the question that way. Every method not banned by the law is applicable in this political period.” Mrs. Alaverdyan explains that move of PAP by the fact that the majority of the PAP faction members are elected to the parliament through proportional representation. Also, “During these past few years PAP has entered the society mind, using unacceptable or acceptable methods, it doesn’t matter, as a team, as a group led by Gagik Tsarukyan. Thus, they won’t lose anything anyway, if they oppose the majoritarian representation and participate only with the list. It is a move not risky for the future results of the party.”
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NELLY GRIGORYAN
