As Hovik Abrahamyan revealed yesterday, within the framework of negotiations between the Heritage Party and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) parliamentary groups and Hovik Abrahamyan, the National Assembly Speaker, the latter had proposed to establish a commission on constitutional reforms chaired by Raffi Hovhannisyan, in which they would discuss the proposals of all political forces, including the Heritage Party and the ARF. It was followed by the statement made by Ruben Hakobyan, the Heritage Party parliamentary group leader, that the proposal was not adequate to the post-election situation in the country. www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with political scientists whether one could consider H. Abrahamyan’s proposal as an action to meet the opposition’s demands or there were other motives for it. Political scientist Yervand Bozoyan stated: “That proposal is basically the same as what Serzh Sargsyan offered Raffi Hovhannisyan during the meeting. The latter, as far as I know, declined the offer, since accepting it, he would have been immediately discredited in Armenian society. I think the dialogue between the government and Raffi Hovhannisyan has reached a deadlock. It is not so much clear to me what the Heritage Party’s future plans are, what they propose now. It seems they talked about it at the latest rally that they would participate in the city council election, in particular. If the Heritage Party pursues that policy, this movement may die out.” Armen Badalyan, an expert in political and electoral technologies, stated in this regard that in his opinion, the presidential election had been predetermined and it had been clear who would become the President of the Republic of Armenia, and everyone who would enter for that event was doomed to fail from the start. Then Mr. Badalyan went into detail: “The government said from the start that it wanted to have a competitive election. And if they had gone for collecting the maximum votes, the ratio of votes would have been 80:20, instead of 58:37. In that case, the ruling government wouldn’t have been able to tell the West that this was a competitive election. Factually, the government has achieved what it wanted. However, it didn’t work, because the foreign journalists also stated that the election had not been competitive. On February when the results of the so-called ‘presidential election’ were
de jure put forward, it has been over from that moment on. Let us note that the opposition candidate couldn’t have achieved any success.” As to H. Abrahamyan’s proposal, he stated: “Since there is a popular uproar, the government wants to appear democratic. Naturally, they make such an offer. However, Raffi Hovhannisyan will not make a serious contribution, since a commission on constitutional reforms will not work overnight, it will be a long process, and no one knows what will happen. The presidential election is over, and one should prepare for the Yerevan council election with a sophisticated campaign. Raffi Hovhannisyan’s movement is not so much against the incumbent president as against small-fry Republican leaders – governors, mayors. There is a good popular saying, it’s no use crying over spilt milk. Now the presidential election is over, and one shouldn’t cry over it when it’s over, one should move forward, toward the city council election.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
