“I expected what the election might be like and what consequences there would be, therefore, I thought that one had better be at the end of the list and let others be at the top,” Grigor Harutyunyan, the deputy chairman of the People’s Party of Armenia (PPA), said during a conversation with www.aravot.am, when we reminded that he had said at the stage of drawing up the party lists that he himself had asked, in order that his name might be written at the bottom of the list, but he hadn’t explained why at the time.
He thinks that no election took place in Armenia and it was not like the ANC won few votes, but “they left few votes to the ANC.” He is convinced that in case of a normal election, the ANC wouldn’t have won 106 thousand votes, but given the social mood, Mr. Harutyunyan is convinced that it would have won at least thrice as many votes.
Our interlocutor doesn’t consider the fact that the Republic Party and the Liberal Party of Armenia (LPA) have let the ANC from the perspective of a “fight for seats,” “Why do you materialize everything immediately. Those people made a decision, I respect their decision. We have traveled a long road together with the Republic Party, in particular. And I don’t think that it was an issue of seats. The same thing applies to the LPA. No, one shouldn’t materialize. We have waged quite a difficult struggle, we have had both successes and failures… they are our friends, partners, it is not right to materialize.” www.aravot.am inquired whether Grigor Harutyunyan agreed with the decision of the PPA to remain in the ANC. “Today the efficient way, in my opinion, is that the struggle should be continued and the way to continue the struggle is this. If tomorrow there is a more efficient way of struggle, naturally, the PPA will take that way,” said Mr. Harutyunyan.
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He also treats normally the decision of the ANC not to boycott the work of the National Assembly and in response to a question what those few people could do in the parliament, he said, “What would they do, if they were 20 people? During the past few years, I myself have appeared in such situations a few times – the Justice Alliance with 17 people, in the Unity Alliance, when the PPA had 24 people. If there is no serious majority in the National Assembly, it doesn’t make any difference whether there are 7 or 15 people, because everything boils down to voting, in the end. 7 can change nothing, nor can 17 nor 27 and from this perspective these issues that 17 MPs raised can be raised also by 7 MPs. Certainly, when there are more MPs in all committees, the work is more efficient, but it doesn’t matter much for raising burning political issues. We should help those 7, serious groups of experts are needed. The ‘minority’ cannot change serious things. The National Assembly should be a political floor, from which one should raise issues concerning the society, one’s truth, one should combine it with struggle outside.” In response to a question of www.aravot.am whether the ANC would struggle only on the National Assembly floor, since it was not much time left till the presidential election, Grigor Harutyunyan said, “It has been stated many times and no one has taken it back yet that the parliamentary election should be the first round of the presidential election, because in our country, admittedly, the parliament has strong powers, but the institution of presidency is perceived by the society as the supreme authority. This is also the reason why money had so much impact in that election. People consider the presidential election as the important one.”
In response to a question whether he thought that the ANC could seriously compete and have aspirations in the presidential election in its present condition, Grigor Harutyunyan said, “I don’t rule it out. Nobody knows what will happen and how it will happen.”
Nelly GRIGORYAN
