Yesterday the ARF made a statement, in which the party presented some provisions of Armenia’s further development, also the switch to a parliamentary system of government. Since the PAP also talked about switching to this system in a statement made a few days ago, www.aravot.am tried to find out whether the mentioned fact could become a basis for cooperation between the ARF and the PAP.
Political Scientist Levon Shirinyan replied, “It is not essential whether it is a presidential or a parliamentary state. The problem is checks and balances between the branches of power. Certainly, the Republican Party might panic, since, admittedly, the Republican Party states that the Armenian nation loves it, but, in reality, we know that no one loves them, which the latest election showed. The ARF was organized since the Ottoman revolution. And if that organization joined the game, there will be a bad situation, moreover, if it joined the PAP, which is a group of oligarchs, there is a liking for the leader… these guys are not less rich, those guys are not less quick-witted. The Republican Party knows that if the PAP and the ARF unite, together with their advantages, the Shirak’s example is fresh, it will lose also that parliamentary group or political organization. The union of the ARF and the PAP will polarize the society too, leaders will emerge, Ivanishvili is a fresh example.”
Armen Martirosyan, the deputy leader of the Heritage Party, doesn’t see any reason why the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) should panic and goes into detail, “I don’t think that the RPA has any reason to panic taking into account its financial, administrative and other resources. Moreover, it is not about some systemic struggle at the moment. Since the ARF became an opposition, it has raised that issue many times. Therefore, this is not an opportunistic proposal and at least, two years ago, the ARF and we proposed to make fundamental amendments to the election code. I cannot say what cooperation there may be between the ARF and the PAP, since there are both internal and external political issues in the ARF statement. I don’t know whether they will be accepted by the PAP or not.”
Garnik Margaryan, the leader of the Motherland and Dignity Party, thinking of the ARF statement as positive, stated, “Those are approaches and proposals. However, one should clean up the system first; crime is spread in the system of government, one should take care of this. There is nothing about the present in the document; it is presented as an issue of the future. Whereas it should be taken care of today. One should put forward the issue of systemic changes, responsibility for serious crimes – I mean October 27, April 13, 2004, Float, March 1, the issue of returning the stolen money – the mechanisms of which are not in the document. The PAP was a part of this regime, it fed and was fed from a part of this booty, therefore, cooperation with it means to collaborate with a corrupted organization and the ARF with all its vices has not been such.”
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
