From the political cooperation with the RPA party, ARF managed to extort Serzh Sargsyan’s program speech. So opines Founding Chairman of the “Armenian Institute for International and Security Affairs”, political analyst Styopa Safaryan. According to his interpretation, Serzh Sargsyan’s speech were also rules of the game that were voice right before the formation of the coalition, “Knowing well the conditions proposed by the Republican Party, I do not think that it is about an equal cooperation. The earlier coalitions formed in 2011 and 2012, even before that, there were shadow agreements in all these coalitions, and this time, prior to making the agreements public, Serzh Sargsyan declared the rules of the game on how he sees the emphasis in various fields, on how he sees the image of a man in the power. I’m not saying that the Republican Party will cling to these standards but it creates a foundation for ARF to say that these are the rules of the game, this-and-this person in the power does not meet this-and-this standards. The RPA’s broad circle of interpretation is narrowed. We can say that the rules of the game are enshrined in Serzh Sargsyan’s speech and they are not so much the rules of the RPA’s game as Serzh Sargsyan’s. We should note that the negotiations were also held at Serzh Sargsyan and Hrant Margaryan level, they are agreements and rules of the game obtained at the level of individuals.
I do not want to say that we are not going to have the fate of the earlier coalition but we have one difference from the earlier coalitions that prior to forming a coalition, we publish the rules of the game. As to how the ARF will use it, it depends on it. If they consider this as a beautiful text presented to the public, which just legitimizes these agreements, of course, we would have the fate of the earlier coalitions. RPA will say again, either do not criticize or shut up and bear responsibility. We remember the disparities in the past. But now, there are rules of the game that are not so bad if the ARF would like to use it and impose that not only ARF but also the RPA would follow these rules.”
Styopa Safaryan opines that if the ARF party is not willing to become an instrument for the government or its junior partner, it must play by these rules of the game, “The ruling party has begun the establishment of the agreements a step forward, in this respect, agreements on all possible issues are reached between the political parties. Today, we can say that two pillars of the future government have been formed: the RPA and the ARF … But as Serzh Sargsyan said in his latest speech, this will not put an end to the range of the forces who would stand as the basis of future government.”
Arpine SIMONYAN
