Today Vahan Shirkhanyan, a former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said during a press conference that it was not right to have a coalition in the executive body, since one party should manage the executive body and should take on the responsibility. Mr. Shirkhanyan told www.aravot.am that the coalition government in the executive branch failed, “Let there be a parliamentary coalition, not an executive one – the former coalition was formal, it had no significance, the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) took the whole responsibility, moved or didn’t move forward, the rest was formal.”
During a conversation with us, Karine Achemyan, an RPA MP, said, in response to a question whether she expected that Gagik Tsarukyan would make a new, special statement about the coalition, because she had stated before that, during a press conference, that it was early to talk about forming or not forming a coalition, “We don’t expect that Gagik Tsarukyan will make any statement about the coalition. We expect that every political force, which has won sufficient votes and is represented in the National Assembly, will express its position.” In response to our observation that the PAP had already expressed its position on that – it will not form the coalition and will act in the constructive camp – Ms. Achemyan said, “Well, you will be informed about the future developments as the time goes by, the Cabinet is formed and we work. However, I must certainly say regarding Gagik Tsarukyan that they have expressed their position at the highest level, but we shall wait and find out about the future developments, I don’t know what they have decided.”
In response to our question whether the RPA didn’t realize the roles completely, Karine Achemyan stated, “We realize our work, we realize the size of our responsibility and we
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are ready to work in any format. We have told our colleagues about that too. Now they are to decide.”
As for the manifold claims that the former coalition was a formal one, Karine Achemyan continues to disagree, saying that 4 ministries, 4 spheres were under their supervision, they worked. Karine Achemyan also doesn’t agree with the claim that the RPA was the one that dictated the rules, “If we had dictated the rules why would these issues have arisen? So we didn’t dictate. Generally, during the process of forming a coalition and at the beginning of it, there necessarily are rules for everybody. We, as a coalition partner, maintain all the rules, they had better admit their responsibility and also maintain the rules.”
As for the promise to endorse Serzh Sargsyan’s candidacy in the presidential election, which was stipulated in the previous coalition memorandum signed by the PAP, Ms. Achemyan thinks that “nothing is eternal, when the new National Assembly is formed, the old agreement is in force insofar as… it was not much of a legal document, anyway. If we look at it from the moral perspective, certainly, it is in force, but if we look at it from the legal perspective, the document doesn’t exist.”
We informed that her fellow party member, MP Gagik Minasyan assured otherwise, saying that unless Gagik Tsarukyan didn’t say otherwise, he had to endorse Serzh Sargsyan and that this article in the memorandum was still in force. According to Karine Achemyan, there is still time left till the presidential election, “They, as a political force, are also entitled to make statements in the National Assembly, I think they will make that statement.” It was hard for Ms. Achemyan to answer our question whether that article might be reviewed and she told us to ask the PAP about that.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
