Today, it is already obvious that the parties of Armenia, which do not have some kind of material resources, do not withstand the competition and very quickly disappear from the view. By saying a political arena, first of all, we mean the number of seats in the National Assembly occupied by the political parties. Even the Rule of Law party, which has some the material resources, some leverage and some work experience, is retaining its place in the political arena of Armenia with difficulty. Today, it’s hard to imagine what place the Republican Party of Armenia would have in the internal political arena, if it were not the ruling party.
The exception is the opposition parties, which, in the absence of financial resources and leverage, manage to penetrate into the National Assembly and stay afloat. And that is why, nowadays, a hot battle is going on between the opposition, semi-opposition and allegedly opposition parties of Armenia to win No. 1 opposition laurel, because it is only possible to obtain the votes of discontented electorates through appearing as a strong opposition in the eyes of people. And, even in case of appearing as a strong opposition, it is necessary to have some financial leverage not for the election bribery, but at least to cover the minimum expenses of the election campaign. And, on the contrary, even in case of having financial and various leverage, it is necessary to have an opposition stance to some extent, because seizing government votes from the government is almost impossible, and it is more than possible from the opposition.
And, in this case, it would be more than necessary to have, if not a stance of a radical opposition, at least an alternative stance, and this “alternative” expression refers only and solely to Tsarukyan’s PAP party, because there has been no other alternative party in Armenia except PAP and could hardly ever be in the future. And, I think that this alternative is quite a novelty and innovation in the scale of the whole world. And, this innovation stems not from the innovation tendencies of PAP, but from the unique internal political situation in Armenia, as well as from Tsarukyan’s personal relationship, and from the complexity of these relations. And, here, we can immediately pass to man-parties topic, but before doing it, we should address the PAP and its pretty speedy biography more thoroughly, because to talk about the establishment of parties in Armenia and their activities, and to forget talking about the PAP and the phenomenon of Tsarukyan, in person, is not only unfair, but also impossible. Currently, PAP is so eminent and visible that many are already beginning to forget that this Party was founded by the desire and awareness of the second President of Armenia Kocharyan. But, some of those remembering it are convinced that this Party, once being founded by the desire and awareness of the second President of Armenia Kocharyan, is somewhat beyond the second President Robert Kocharyan ‘s sphere of influence. Some might recall that in last years of Kocharyan’s ruling Artashes Tumanyan, who was then the Chief of Presidential Staff, had an intention to found a party, and even the party’s platform was published in one of the newspapers. But, quite surprisingly, the idea of the Party remained on paper and did not happen, and, erelong, Tsarukyan’s party was surprisingly founded. We do not connect the suspension of one party with the establishment of the other party just due to the absence of specific and comprehensive information. Anyway. PAP exists and continues to prosper by making its alternative existence more and more noticeable in Armenia’s internal political arena.
Voskan YEREVANTSI
