As opposed to pessimistic and depressive sentiments, I must say that the 5th convocation of the National Assembly that is starting its work today is comprised of MPs, more than a half of which are capable of legislative work. Such are the Armenian National Congress (ANC) (7 MPs), the Rule of Law Party (RLP) (6), the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) (5), the Heritage Party (5) parliamentary groups as a whole, independent MPs (2), plus less than a half of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) (30 and 20 MPs respectively). In sum 75 MPs – the MPs thinking, reading and interested in the content of laws were not more in the previous parliament. The rest, yes, is a “business” slough, the representatives of which are not only not capable of mental work, but they also cannot be oppositionists, because in that case, they will immediately be brought to the field of taxes and no private company in Armenia can fully work in that field. However, there are no grounds for such optimism that this convocation of the National Assembly will adopt laws, thanks to which entrepreneurs will be compelled not to work in the shadow economy or in the “semi-shadow” economy. Because the “readers” and “thinkers” of the RPA and the PAP have become MPs thanks to the money of “non-readers” and “non-thinkers” and the latter are not interested in rational tax laws.
Therefore, it is pointless to have too many expectations from this convocation of the parliament in terms of economic normalization, particularly given the fact that the Cabinet’s “economic bloc” will most probably remain the same. And the biggest achievement of Tigran Sargsyan’s Cabinet, as it is known, is that “under the conditions of the deep global financial and economic crisis,” that Cabinet “hasn’t cut any social project.” So, it hasn’t decreased the pension of the retired people from 30 thousand AMD to 28 thousand. It is really a feat, which our retired people will not forget till the rest of their lives. This parliament will form such a Cabinet with similar “achievements” and consequently, no progress can be expected in this field.
Instead, the current parliament can take some steps concerning the political system, developing freedom of speech, improving the electoral process, particularly given the fact that it seems there is a wish here to meet the social demands. In particular, the laws concerning TV and radio, as well as digitalization, should be amended. Certainly, one should amend also the Electoral Code, adding mandatory filming of the whole electoral process, making the voting lists public and voting of our citizens living abroad. Thus, the opposition, in my opinion, must take on realistic tasks and not put forward some global issues, which will not be solved, anyway.
ARAM ABRAHAMYAN
