Tweet
TOP APPOINTMENTS: FAMILY TIES, COMPROMISES AND PRAGMATISM PLAY ROLE IN DISTRIBUTION OF SENIOR POSTS IN ARMENIA
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
04.06.12 | 12:49
In-law lawmakers: NA speaker Hovik Abrahamyan (left) and PAP leader
Gagik Tsarukyan
The holders of the second and third most important posts in Armenia
became known at the end of last week as Hovik Abrahamyan was installed
as Parliament Speaker and Tigran Sargsyan was reappointed Prime
Minister.
Abrahamyan stepped down as parliament speaker half a year before the
May 6 parliamentary elections in order to manage the campaign of the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). His re-election as speaker
was widely seen as a compromise between the RPA and the Prosperous
Armenia Party (PAP), which has the second largest faction in the
current National Assembly.
Experts point out that taking into account the fact that Abrahamyan
and PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan are in-laws (Abrahamyan's son married
Tsarukyan's daughter), it played a big role in the elections and
post-election struggle. For example, after the elections, despite the
violations documented even by international observers, the PAP did
not challenge the election results in the court or in the street. Or
else, the one to be held accountable for any violation would have been
Abrahamyan. On the other hand, the RPA had to moderate its position
on the PAP so as not to offend their campaign manager's in-law.
However, the family relationship between Abrahamyan and Tsarukyan
did not prevent the PAP from refusing to form a coalition with the RPA.
Analysts attribute this to the fact that Tsarukyan has second president
Robert Kocharyan backing him and that Kocharyan may opt for running
in the 2013 presidential election.
The elections and appointments of the same persons to key posts as
well as promises not to have big changes in the government are more
evidence that Armenia has entered the standby mode for the presidential
election due in about nine months. The parliament has gone into recess
for the summer and will not go back to work until September when the
unofficial presidential campaign is expected to start in earnest.
As regards the reappointment of Tigran Sargsyan as prime minister,
media also speculate that President Serzh Sargsyan (no relation to
the head of the cabinet) did not want to change the person who has
brought Armenia's relations with the European Union to the stage of
negotiations around a free trade agreement. The first round of talks
is due in the middle of June, while European Council President Herman
Van Rompuy is due to visit Armenia as part of his regional tour in
the middle of July. It will probably become an occasion for declaring
closer relations between Armenia and the European Union.
President Sargsyan may find the European direction of economic
integration beneficial not only in terms of state interests, but
also in terms of retaining his political power in Armenia. The PAP,
which is almost certain to field its own candidate at Armenia's
presidential election next year - and Kocharyan may be that candidate
- has a foreign policy vision oriented to Russia, Vladimir Putin and
the Eurasian Union, an emerging economic reintegration project for
former Soviet republics advocated by the Kremlin. And in order to be
able to resist Russian influence on the election outcome, Sargsyan
needs an equally powerful patron, such as Europe.
It is not excluded that after the presidential election, even if
Sargsyan gets re-elected, the parliament will be dissolved and a new
government will be formed. Perhaps this would be a "condition for
support" from the European Union. In the meantime, some media have
already dubbed the current parliament and government "provisional".
By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow
04.06.12 | 12:49
In-law lawmakers: NA speaker Hovik Abrahamyan (left) and PAP leader
Gagik Tsarukyan
The holders of the second and third most important posts in Armenia
became known at the end of last week as Hovik Abrahamyan was installed
as Parliament Speaker and Tigran Sargsyan was reappointed Prime
Minister.
Abrahamyan stepped down as parliament speaker half a year before the
May 6 parliamentary elections in order to manage the campaign of the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA). His re-election as speaker
was widely seen as a compromise between the RPA and the Prosperous
Armenia Party (PAP), which has the second largest faction in the
current National Assembly.
Experts point out that taking into account the fact that Abrahamyan
and PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan are in-laws (Abrahamyan's son married
Tsarukyan's daughter), it played a big role in the elections and
post-election struggle. For example, after the elections, despite the
violations documented even by international observers, the PAP did
not challenge the election results in the court or in the street. Or
else, the one to be held accountable for any violation would have been
Abrahamyan. On the other hand, the RPA had to moderate its position
on the PAP so as not to offend their campaign manager's in-law.
However, the family relationship between Abrahamyan and Tsarukyan
did not prevent the PAP from refusing to form a coalition with the RPA.
Analysts attribute this to the fact that Tsarukyan has second president
Robert Kocharyan backing him and that Kocharyan may opt for running
in the 2013 presidential election.
The elections and appointments of the same persons to key posts as
well as promises not to have big changes in the government are more
evidence that Armenia has entered the standby mode for the presidential
election due in about nine months. The parliament has gone into recess
for the summer and will not go back to work until September when the
unofficial presidential campaign is expected to start in earnest.
As regards the reappointment of Tigran Sargsyan as prime minister,
media also speculate that President Serzh Sargsyan (no relation to
the head of the cabinet) did not want to change the person who has
brought Armenia's relations with the European Union to the stage of
negotiations around a free trade agreement. The first round of talks
is due in the middle of June, while European Council President Herman
Van Rompuy is due to visit Armenia as part of his regional tour in
the middle of July. It will probably become an occasion for declaring
closer relations between Armenia and the European Union.
President Sargsyan may find the European direction of economic
integration beneficial not only in terms of state interests, but
also in terms of retaining his political power in Armenia. The PAP,
which is almost certain to field its own candidate at Armenia's
presidential election next year - and Kocharyan may be that candidate
- has a foreign policy vision oriented to Russia, Vladimir Putin and
the Eurasian Union, an emerging economic reintegration project for
former Soviet republics advocated by the Kremlin. And in order to be
able to resist Russian influence on the election outcome, Sargsyan
needs an equally powerful patron, such as Europe.
It is not excluded that after the presidential election, even if
Sargsyan gets re-elected, the parliament will be dissolved and a new
government will be formed. Perhaps this would be a "condition for
support" from the European Union. In the meantime, some media have
already dubbed the current parliament and government "provisional".