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ARMENIA: SERZH SARGSYAN AND RAFFI HOVHANNISIAN BECOME POLITICAL PEN PALS
EurasiaNet.org, NY
March 27 2013
March 27, 2013 - 11:58am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Armenia's post-election standoff has moved into the direction of
an epistolary novel as President Serzh Sargsyan and his challenger,
Raffi Hovhannisian, work their way to a truce through correspondence
that is cc'd to the rest of the nation.
In his latest letter, President Sargsyan kindly asked his
hunger-striking rival to have a bite of something, cut the dramatics
and sit down to talk. "Please stop the hunger strike, take a day
or two to recover and then we will do some serious work, without
the theatrics," the president wrote to Hovhannisian, who claims
that Sargsyan stole the presidency from him in Armenia's February
18 election.
Both sides, though, combine the careful courtesy with pointed barbs.
Sargsyan, for instance, agreed to entertain Hovhannisian's ideas for
crisis resolution -- "half-baked" and "anti-constitutional" though
they may be.
The ideas, laid out in an earlier missive from Hovhannisian,
center on a request to hold a repeat presidential election or a
parliamentary election preceded by an overhaul of the electoral
system. And the prerogative to appoint some key officials such as
the general prosecutor and the foreign minister, among others.
Hovhannisian, in turn, has agreed to consider Sargsyan's proposal to
meet, thanked his political pen pal for his concern about his health,
but assured him that there is no reason to be worried.
If Yerevan's Liberty Square, Hovhannisian's new open-air residence,
is not the most convenient of places for a rendez-vous, another spot
could be chosen, wrote the Heritage Party leader, with all the fluidity
of a social secretary.
Even now, Sargsyan might be penning a response, and Armenians are
likely to be spammed with more negotiation letters between the feuding
leaders. The spirit of the correspondence may suggest some hope for
an eventual resolution of the stalemate, but, given Armenia's recent
political past, will the pen, in fact, prove mightier than the sword?
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66746
EurasiaNet.org, NY
March 27 2013
March 27, 2013 - 11:58am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Armenia's post-election standoff has moved into the direction of
an epistolary novel as President Serzh Sargsyan and his challenger,
Raffi Hovhannisian, work their way to a truce through correspondence
that is cc'd to the rest of the nation.
In his latest letter, President Sargsyan kindly asked his
hunger-striking rival to have a bite of something, cut the dramatics
and sit down to talk. "Please stop the hunger strike, take a day
or two to recover and then we will do some serious work, without
the theatrics," the president wrote to Hovhannisian, who claims
that Sargsyan stole the presidency from him in Armenia's February
18 election.
Both sides, though, combine the careful courtesy with pointed barbs.
Sargsyan, for instance, agreed to entertain Hovhannisian's ideas for
crisis resolution -- "half-baked" and "anti-constitutional" though
they may be.
The ideas, laid out in an earlier missive from Hovhannisian,
center on a request to hold a repeat presidential election or a
parliamentary election preceded by an overhaul of the electoral
system. And the prerogative to appoint some key officials such as
the general prosecutor and the foreign minister, among others.
Hovhannisian, in turn, has agreed to consider Sargsyan's proposal to
meet, thanked his political pen pal for his concern about his health,
but assured him that there is no reason to be worried.
If Yerevan's Liberty Square, Hovhannisian's new open-air residence,
is not the most convenient of places for a rendez-vous, another spot
could be chosen, wrote the Heritage Party leader, with all the fluidity
of a social secretary.
Even now, Sargsyan might be penning a response, and Armenians are
likely to be spammed with more negotiation letters between the feuding
leaders. The spirit of the correspondence may suggest some hope for
an eventual resolution of the stalemate, but, given Armenia's recent
political past, will the pen, in fact, prove mightier than the sword?
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66746