Published since 07.2002
Published on April 18, 2008
COALITION-MANIA?: POWER-SHARING BECOMES ‘A POPULAR TREND’ EVEN IF YOUR WIN IS ‘UNDISPUTABLE’
- Negotiations over the roles in the emerging government of the four political parties that formed a new political coalition in Armenia last month as well as actual appointments have dominated discussions far beyond the corridors of power and media/analytical circles this week. Members of the public from all walks of life were picking up official news and spreading the word, seasoning it with ‘expertly made judgments’ about the future of this minister or that, criticizing or praising those going out and expressing skepticism or welcoming those coming to replace them. While the current leaders of the country, and first of all its new President Serzh Sargsyan and his appointed Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan, sound optimistic about the ability of the nascent government to tackle major political and economic issues facing the country, there are still lingering questions as to whether its coalitional format will prove effective in the final analysis. Stepan Safaryan, from Heritage, the only remaining opposition faction in Armenia’s National Assembly, spoke skeptically about the ability of the new government to solve problems effectively. In particular, he voiced doubts about the ability of its ‘technocrat’ head to smooth out the political differences that apparently exist between its four members, two of which, Orinats Yerkir and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), contested the February 19 presidential on a political platform astringently critical of the Republican-dominated government. Like Safaryan many opposition representatives expect that the new government will be reduced to another bunch of ministers with ‘collective responsibility’ commonly perceived as ‘no one’s responsibility’ in Armenian reality. Armenia’s first Ombudsperson Larisa Alaverdyan, who is Safaryan’s colleague in the Heritage faction, said in a recent TV interview that “a coalition in Armenia has been turned into a mechanical process.” “It has been reduced to distribution of ministerial portfolios,” she said on Kentron TV’s talk show program on Tuesday. Coalitions are a forced step in politics that political parties resort to when they experience a deficit of popular votes in the legislature to form the government single-handedly or need broader support to start or forge ahead with drastic reforms. Armenia saw its first coalition only in 2003, which was a forced step for the “party of the power”, i.e. Republicans, to assert their dominance over the opposition in parliament by recruiting the services of the same Orinats Yerkir and Dashnaktsutyun parties. However, the landslide victory achieved by the Republicans in the 2007 parliamentary elections with a clear majority in the new legislature allowed its leader Serzh Sargsyan to lead the Cabinet single-handedly without making any deals with other political parties. Call it goodwill and a sign of willingness to cooperate with others, as the Republicans describe it, or reluctance to shoulder the brunt of responsibility and premonitions that the victory through a ballot box is not convincing enough for people and may cause a deficit of public trust, but that coalition set the tradition of striking power-sharing deals in Armenia even in situations when the logic of events makes no need for that. A clear win in a presidential election with 52.8 percent of the vote in the first round is enough for any elected leader not to share his power with yesterday’s opponents, especially those who criticized him severely and whom he himself ridiculed for populism. The coalitional format of the government does not seem to be a sign for nonpartisan premier Tigran Sargsyan that Serzh Sargsyan and the Republican Party that he leads may be short of their declared popular vote of confidence. On the contrary, in an interview shortly after his appointment, Sargsyan (no relation to Serzh) said: “I have been tasked with fulfilling all programs submitted by Serzh Sargsyan, approved by the National Assembly and the people during the election campaign. These programs have been put forward by the Republican Party and our task is to fulfill them.” Sargsyan also sounded optimistic about his future in the chair of the premier as he said that the nature of the complex programs required high professionalism and that “planned reforms cannot be interrupted.” “So, I feel I can work with Serzh Sargsyan for his whole five-year term,” he said. Sargsyan, the president, also sounded optimistic as he introduced the former chief banker to the cabinet of acting ministers saying that under Tigran Sargsyan’s leadership the government will “realize ambitious programs in the years to come.” A partisan president with a nonpartisan prime minister is a reversal of the situation that existed under Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan (nothing wrong with entrusting one of the country’s key political posts to a man who is not affiliated with your political party and hardly shares its tenets; nothing close to the news that came from Moscow this week about outgoing President and “National Hero” Vladimir Putin, the future Self-Appointed Prime Minister, becoming Chairman of Russia’s ruling United Russia party without even becoming its member). As the talk of the new appointments and dismissals continues, what becomes a more interesting question is that many Members of Parliament (representing all coalition partners, including Prosperous Armenia) are ready to trade their mandates as Elected Representatives of the People for a presidential-appointed position and stay fully at the discretion of the Sargsyans. A legitimate question may be whether National Assembly deputies find it to their advantage to trade the will of thousands of the electorate who put them in place last May, for the single will of the popularly-elected president. Besides, as Republican MP Armen Ashotyan says in an interview with the Aravot daily on Wednesday, there also seems to be a risk of ending up with having a parliament without ‘prominent lawmakers’ if most are recruited to serve in the executive. “…A state system is not only a government. I am sure it is not right to strip the National Assembly bare of its prominent lawmakers,” Ashotyan says.
Headlines for April 18, 2008
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President Serzh Sargsyan on Monday evening signed a decree appointing General-Colonel Seyran Ohanyan Armenia’s Minister of Defense, the president’s press service reported. Since 2007, 46-year-old Ohanyan ...COST-CUTTING START: GOVERNMENT SET TO ABOLISH SUBSIDY ON RUSSIAN GAS, PRICES TO INCREASE FOR CONSUMERS
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Four years ago, when Alexander Chilingaryan got a left leg injury during a baseball training session, doctors recommended that he forget sports. “But I did not believe them and I believed myself and ...REALIZED DREAM: DIASPORA ARMENIAN FOUND HIS TRUE HOME IN GORIS
Armine Avagyan 1
While many Armenians dream of leaving to settle in other countries, Shahen Zeytuntsyan, from Germany, found Armenia attractive enough. More over he preferred Syunic province to Yerevan and now 68 year ...COALITION-MANIA?: POWER-SHARING BECOMES ‘A POPULAR TREND’ EVEN IF YOUR WIN IS ‘UNDISPUTABLE’
Negotiations over the roles in the emerging government of the four political parties that formed a new political coalition in Armenia last month as well as actual appointments have dominated discussions ...NEW CONSTRUCTION, NEW PROTEST: CONTROVERSY RISES AS BUILDING SITE IS REVEALED IN VANADZOR
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Large scale construction works have started in the center of Vanadzor, Lori province, when a 6 meter deep pit was dug in the center of town, where green area stood just a week ago Human rights activist ...KASHATAGH: KARABAKH’S REGION FEELS SHORTAGE OF ELECTRICITY, JOBS AND RESIDENTS
Naira Hayrumyan
The first pan-Armenian conference on the development of the Kashatagh region of Nagorno-Karabakh took place in that region last month. The conference was organized by the Tufenkian Foundation under the ...CLAIMS AND COUNTERCLAIMS: LAWSUITS SPLIT POLICE AGAINST JOURNALIST IN GYUMRI
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The Gyumri police is asking a court to impose a 50,000 drams (about $170) fine on the chairman of the Gyumri Journalists Club for refusal to obey the demands of the police during a March 2 political protest ...NEW MFA ON THE JOB: PRESIDENT CALLS ON ALL MINISTERS TO BE “SOLDIERS”
Aris Ghazinyan
On April 14, Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree appointing 52-year-old Eduard Nalbandyan Minister of Foreign Affairs. Earlier, Nalbandyan was relieved of his position as Armenia’s Ambassador ...WALK TALK: ASSEMBLY DISCUSSES LAW ON ASSEMBLY AS POLICE RESTRICT AFTERNOON “WALKS”
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On April 15, while National Assembly Chairman Tigran Torosyan was discussing with international experts the necessity of the controversial amendments to Armenia’s law on assemblies, several dozen policemen ...
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Today in Armenian history- 1862 Birth of H.F.B. Lynch in London of Irish parentage. Besides his study of law, he became noted as a writer, a geographer, a politician, and a traveller, with a keen interest in Armenia. His two-volume book on his Armenia travels is a classic and describes life in Armenia at the end of the 19th century. In 1906, he was elected to serve as a member of the British Parliament. (He died in London on 1913 11 24).
- 1877 The Yerevan detachment of the Russian forces, headed by General Ter-Ghukasov, occupies Bayazet for 12 days with the help of Armenian home guards.
- 1933 Death of Avetik Sahakian (Father Abraham), the Parliamentary President of the First Armenian Republic.
- 1953 The administrative districts of Yerevan, Kirovakan, and Leninakan are dissolved.
- 1958 Inauguration of the Armenian SSR's Art Institute.
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