Tweet
GOVERNMENT INFIGHTING HERALDS START OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 19 2006
Armenia's governing coalition is beset with fresh infighting
between the two largest political parties loyal to President Robert
Kocharian, which could have repercussions for next year's parliamentary
election. The Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party of parliamentary
speaker Artur Baghdasarian has publicly denounced Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian and his Republican Party (HHK) over questionable
privatization policies pursued by the Armenian government.
The move appears to mark the start of Baghdasarian's election
campaign. The 36-year-old speaker, who is one of Kocharian's potential
successors, is widely believed to be trying to enhance his populist
appeal by attacking a government in which his party is represented
by three ministers.
The row broke out on April 11 at the start of parliamentary debates
in Yerevan on the privatization of remaining state assets from 2001
through 2004. A government report on the process was expected to be
accepted by the Kocharian-controlled National Assembly without much
fuss. The parliament did endorse it, but only after three days of
bitter recriminations traded by the two coalition partners in front
of television cameras and gloating opposition parliamentarians.
Orinats Yerkir lawmakers strongly challenged the integrity of the
privatization deals handled by Armenia's Department for State
Property Management, humiliating the pro-Markarian head of the
government agency, Karine Kirakosian. They pointed to the fact that
48 of 69 state-owned enterprises put up for sale during the four-year
period were privatized without tenders or auctions and at knockdown
prices. Most of those enterprises have long ceased to operate and were
primarily of interest to private buyers as pieces of real property.
It emerged that virtually all properties located in central
Yerevan were sold off at ridiculously low prices ranging from
$30 to $60 per square meter. The market value of real estate in
the increasingly expensive city center is at least $900 per square
meter. Newspaper reports said last week that among the lucky buyers
of lucrative properties were Trade and Economic Development Minister
Karen Chshmaritian and a businessman whose daughter is married to
Kocharian's elder son.
Baghdasarian and his loyalists allege that the huge price disparity
is the result of government corruption and nepotism. "They have
appropriated millions and have to account for it," Baghdasarian
charged without naming names. He also accused the government of
illegally privatizing buildings that once belonged to educational,
cultural, and scientific institutions.
Markarian and HHK parliamentarians rejected the accusations,
presenting them as yet another manifestation of Orinats Yerkir's
trademark populism. "All privatizations were approved at government
sessions," he told reporters on April 12. "Representatives of that
party were present at those sessions. If they had questions they
could ask them and be given explanations." Markarian aides implicitly
threatened to publicize "compromising material" against Orinats Yerkir
in retaliation. The threats led the latter to somewhat tone down its
anti-government rhetoric. "Had we gone a bit further, we would have
destroyed each other," admitted another HHK leader, Galust Sahakian.
The key question is what prompted Baghdasarian to lash out at the
HHK-dominated government now, just two months after he and other
coalition leaders pledged to stop embarrassing each other in public
and to preserve their uneasy marriage of convenience at least until
the 2007 election. "One can arrest any official who has dealt with
the privatization sphere at any moment and rest assured that justice
has been done," wrote a columnist for the 168 Zham newspaper. "On the
other hand, it is clear to everyone that Orinats Yerkir does not care
much about state property privatized for nothing."
What the party does care about is a strong showing in the next
legislative polls. Barring the absence of personal attacks on
Kocharian, the pre-election discourse of its young leader has always
differed little from that of opposition leaders. Baghdasarian's
statements may be often demagogic and short on specifics, but they
won him the post of National Assembly speaker and the second-largest
faction in the Armenian parliament after the HHK in 2003. He is
arguably the most electable member of the ruling regime, which explains
the persistent speculation about his ambition to succeed Kocharian,
who is expected to step down after completing his second five-year
term of office in 2008.
Baghdasarian already scored more political points last October when he
forced the government, reportedly with Kocharian's blessing, to start
compensating some of those Armenians whose Soviet-era savings bank
deposits were wiped out by hyperinflation in the early 1990s (see EDM,
October 6, 2005). (Compensation of the former deposit holders was a key
Orinats Yerkir campaign promise in 2003.) So observers wonder if his
latest offensive in the parliament was also agreed with the Armenian
president. But it is not clear why Kocharian would want to undercut the
HHK, Armenia's number one "party of power" that has served him so well.
Some local commentators say the HHK is not 100% reliable for Kocharian
and his closest associate and most likely successor, Defense Minister
Serge Sarkisian. The latter ran for parliament on the HHK ticket in
2003 and promised to name in February the party with which he will
team up for the 2007 vote. But Sarkisian has still not made the
announcement, suggesting that he might be lacking faith in Prime
Minister Markarian's Republicans.
(168 Zham, April 13-14; Lragir.am, April 13; Aravot, April 13;
Haykakan Zhamanak, April 12)
By Emil Danielyan
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 19 2006
Armenia's governing coalition is beset with fresh infighting
between the two largest political parties loyal to President Robert
Kocharian, which could have repercussions for next year's parliamentary
election. The Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party of parliamentary
speaker Artur Baghdasarian has publicly denounced Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian and his Republican Party (HHK) over questionable
privatization policies pursued by the Armenian government.
The move appears to mark the start of Baghdasarian's election
campaign. The 36-year-old speaker, who is one of Kocharian's potential
successors, is widely believed to be trying to enhance his populist
appeal by attacking a government in which his party is represented
by three ministers.
The row broke out on April 11 at the start of parliamentary debates
in Yerevan on the privatization of remaining state assets from 2001
through 2004. A government report on the process was expected to be
accepted by the Kocharian-controlled National Assembly without much
fuss. The parliament did endorse it, but only after three days of
bitter recriminations traded by the two coalition partners in front
of television cameras and gloating opposition parliamentarians.
Orinats Yerkir lawmakers strongly challenged the integrity of the
privatization deals handled by Armenia's Department for State
Property Management, humiliating the pro-Markarian head of the
government agency, Karine Kirakosian. They pointed to the fact that
48 of 69 state-owned enterprises put up for sale during the four-year
period were privatized without tenders or auctions and at knockdown
prices. Most of those enterprises have long ceased to operate and were
primarily of interest to private buyers as pieces of real property.
It emerged that virtually all properties located in central
Yerevan were sold off at ridiculously low prices ranging from
$30 to $60 per square meter. The market value of real estate in
the increasingly expensive city center is at least $900 per square
meter. Newspaper reports said last week that among the lucky buyers
of lucrative properties were Trade and Economic Development Minister
Karen Chshmaritian and a businessman whose daughter is married to
Kocharian's elder son.
Baghdasarian and his loyalists allege that the huge price disparity
is the result of government corruption and nepotism. "They have
appropriated millions and have to account for it," Baghdasarian
charged without naming names. He also accused the government of
illegally privatizing buildings that once belonged to educational,
cultural, and scientific institutions.
Markarian and HHK parliamentarians rejected the accusations,
presenting them as yet another manifestation of Orinats Yerkir's
trademark populism. "All privatizations were approved at government
sessions," he told reporters on April 12. "Representatives of that
party were present at those sessions. If they had questions they
could ask them and be given explanations." Markarian aides implicitly
threatened to publicize "compromising material" against Orinats Yerkir
in retaliation. The threats led the latter to somewhat tone down its
anti-government rhetoric. "Had we gone a bit further, we would have
destroyed each other," admitted another HHK leader, Galust Sahakian.
The key question is what prompted Baghdasarian to lash out at the
HHK-dominated government now, just two months after he and other
coalition leaders pledged to stop embarrassing each other in public
and to preserve their uneasy marriage of convenience at least until
the 2007 election. "One can arrest any official who has dealt with
the privatization sphere at any moment and rest assured that justice
has been done," wrote a columnist for the 168 Zham newspaper. "On the
other hand, it is clear to everyone that Orinats Yerkir does not care
much about state property privatized for nothing."
What the party does care about is a strong showing in the next
legislative polls. Barring the absence of personal attacks on
Kocharian, the pre-election discourse of its young leader has always
differed little from that of opposition leaders. Baghdasarian's
statements may be often demagogic and short on specifics, but they
won him the post of National Assembly speaker and the second-largest
faction in the Armenian parliament after the HHK in 2003. He is
arguably the most electable member of the ruling regime, which explains
the persistent speculation about his ambition to succeed Kocharian,
who is expected to step down after completing his second five-year
term of office in 2008.
Baghdasarian already scored more political points last October when he
forced the government, reportedly with Kocharian's blessing, to start
compensating some of those Armenians whose Soviet-era savings bank
deposits were wiped out by hyperinflation in the early 1990s (see EDM,
October 6, 2005). (Compensation of the former deposit holders was a key
Orinats Yerkir campaign promise in 2003.) So observers wonder if his
latest offensive in the parliament was also agreed with the Armenian
president. But it is not clear why Kocharian would want to undercut the
HHK, Armenia's number one "party of power" that has served him so well.
Some local commentators say the HHK is not 100% reliable for Kocharian
and his closest associate and most likely successor, Defense Minister
Serge Sarkisian. The latter ran for parliament on the HHK ticket in
2003 and promised to name in February the party with which he will
team up for the 2007 vote. But Sarkisian has still not made the
announcement, suggesting that he might be lacking faith in Prime
Minister Markarian's Republicans.
(168 Zham, April 13-14; Lragir.am, April 13; Aravot, April 13;
Haykakan Zhamanak, April 12)