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ARMENIAN BILLIONAIRE JUMPS TO OPPOSITION CAMP
Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Nov 19 2014
The fractious Armenian opposition could get a big boost from the
arrival of one of the country's richest men, IWPR writes.
Businessman Gagik Tsarukyan is taking his Prosperous Armenia party
into a three-party opposition coalition with the Armenian National
Congress and the Heritage Party with the aim of forcing the government
to heed their demands for reform.
Prosperous Armenia is the second largest party in parliament and was in
the governing coalition with the dominant Republican Party until 2012.
A key demand of the new opposition troika is to elect the entire
parliament by party-list ballot to replace the current mixed
system in which some deputies are elected in single-seat districts,
ArmeniaNow.com writes.
Armenia's main opposition parties have long argued that the
single-seat, or majoritarian, ballot distorts the political process
and gives the ruling party a way to ensure its candidates are elected,
according to ArmeniaNow.
"Supporters of majoritarian ballots, on the contrary, argue that in the
absence of a bicameral parliament in Armenia elections from single-seat
constituencies ensure representation of all voters and regions and
a direct link between voters and their elected representatives."
Allegations of vote-buying and electoral fraud have plagued most
Armenian elections for years.
Opposition parties refused to field candidates to run against strongman
President Serzh Sargsyan in his February 2013 re-election bid, and
protests followed his victory.
Tsarukyan, once a Sargsyan ally, recently told the president he
wants to see parliament dissolved and new elections held, Panorama.am
reports. Sargsyan reportedly said new elections could take place no
sooner than next June.
Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan last month dismissed the opposition's
demands, saying, "Regime change will only happen within the
constitution, as a result of the next national election," according
to IWPR.
Sargsyan has introduced constitutional changes including a transfer of
some presidential authority to the legislature in what some observers
interpret as a means to hold on to power when his second and final
term ends in 2018, IWPR writes.
http://www.tol.org/client/article/24567-ukraine-foils-terror-attack-on-dutch-diplomats-romanian-foreign-minister-sacked.html
From: A. Papazian
Transitions Online, Czech Republic
Nov 19 2014
The fractious Armenian opposition could get a big boost from the
arrival of one of the country's richest men, IWPR writes.
Businessman Gagik Tsarukyan is taking his Prosperous Armenia party
into a three-party opposition coalition with the Armenian National
Congress and the Heritage Party with the aim of forcing the government
to heed their demands for reform.
Prosperous Armenia is the second largest party in parliament and was in
the governing coalition with the dominant Republican Party until 2012.
A key demand of the new opposition troika is to elect the entire
parliament by party-list ballot to replace the current mixed
system in which some deputies are elected in single-seat districts,
ArmeniaNow.com writes.
Armenia's main opposition parties have long argued that the
single-seat, or majoritarian, ballot distorts the political process
and gives the ruling party a way to ensure its candidates are elected,
according to ArmeniaNow.
"Supporters of majoritarian ballots, on the contrary, argue that in the
absence of a bicameral parliament in Armenia elections from single-seat
constituencies ensure representation of all voters and regions and
a direct link between voters and their elected representatives."
Allegations of vote-buying and electoral fraud have plagued most
Armenian elections for years.
Opposition parties refused to field candidates to run against strongman
President Serzh Sargsyan in his February 2013 re-election bid, and
protests followed his victory.
Tsarukyan, once a Sargsyan ally, recently told the president he
wants to see parliament dissolved and new elections held, Panorama.am
reports. Sargsyan reportedly said new elections could take place no
sooner than next June.
Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan last month dismissed the opposition's
demands, saying, "Regime change will only happen within the
constitution, as a result of the next national election," according
to IWPR.
Sargsyan has introduced constitutional changes including a transfer of
some presidential authority to the legislature in what some observers
interpret as a means to hold on to power when his second and final
term ends in 2018, IWPR writes.
http://www.tol.org/client/article/24567-ukraine-foils-terror-attack-on-dutch-diplomats-romanian-foreign-minister-sacked.html
From: A. Papazian