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NEW POLITICAL SITUATION CREATED IN ARMENIA
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Oct 15 2014
15 October 2014 - 8:38am
By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan, Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
This autumn, forces united by a strive to switch the government have
entered the political life of Armenia. The opposition quartet is
making radical demands again. Dashnaktsutyun left the quartet but it
was replaced by the People's Party of Armenia (PPA) headed by lawmaker
Stepan Demirchyan.
At protests in regions and then in Yerevan on October 10,
oppositionists were speaking about the need to switch and government
and make radical changes.
"The country is in a unique situation when the government was left
in solitude, and opposition united. If people rise and make us switch
the government, it would become a reality, assumes Armen Martirosyan,
vice president of the Heritage Party.
Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia fraction Naira Zograbyan said that
300-400 people were leaving the country every day. In her words,
the government created such living conditions that many people
commit suicide.
Levon Zurabyan, the head of the Armenian National Congress (ANC)
fraction and the party's vice president, said at a meeting in Yerevan
on October 10 that it was time for the regime to give up power to
the nation. Opposition offers a peaceful switch of power. "The regime
and opposition should publicly reach an agreement on the road map of
ceding power. The regime should abnegate the intention of reproducing
Serzh Sargsyan's power using constitutional changes, prepare the
electoral system for real democratic elections and form legitimate
power in Armenia in limited time. In this issue, the government needs
several days. If they start persisting and reject the variant, our
next protest will gather more people, and our only goal will be to
oust the government using an all-national, civil wave of disobedience."
The agenda of the quartet includes off-year presidential
and parliamentary elections, blocking of government-initiated
constitutional reforms. Financial, economic and social improvements
are part of the plan. Overall, opposition has 12 demands, which are
not an economic program but they are necessary to make changes.
Despite the common political agenda, ANC, Heritage and Prosperous
Armenia were most likely seeing different outcomes. They have different
reasons for ousting the government. Raffi Ovannisyan, the leader of
the Heritage Party, probably has personal motives. He believes that
the government stole his victory achieved at the presidential polls in
2013. Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan, a major businessman,
realizes the catastrophic situation in business and remains concerned
about prospects of the economic situation. ANC remains a radical
oppositionist demanding a switch of power, democratization and
punishments for the death of 10 people on March 1, 2008...
The three parties are not opposed to Armenia's joining the Eurasian
Economic Union (EaEU), while Heritage expresses a contrary opinion,
believing that the organization is a threat for sovereignty of Armenia.
Despite different approaches, there are no issues of foreign policy in
their agenda. According to ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan, activeness
of opposition in the parliament has overgrown the people's movement
that has no geopolitical goals and concentrates on solution of interior
problems. In his words, joining the Eurasian Union is an irreversible
fact and attempts of 20-30 people to prove the contrary are absurd.
The alliance of Prosperous Armenia, ANC, PPA and Heritage, development
of a common agenda and a common strategy demonstrate that Armenia is
in a new political situation. The long standoff of opposition and the
government in the parliament has turned into a new, wider format,
where masses of people are involved. The main reason conditioning
the change of format is stubbornness of the Armenian government,
its rejection of any proposal or project of opposition. Despite
numerous public protests and all arguments of the opposition to cancel
the accumulative component of pensions, the government has made no
concessions. Proposals of the opposition have introduced changes to
the new law on turnover tax. The latter has caused a major grievance
among workers of food markets. The parliamentary majority spoke
out against the law. The government concerned about rising protests
has only agreed to freeze effects of the law for four months. The
reluctance of the government to make even minimal changes has forced
opposition to take the fight beyond the parliament.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/61077.html
Vestnik Kavkaza, Russia
Oct 15 2014
15 October 2014 - 8:38am
By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan, Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
This autumn, forces united by a strive to switch the government have
entered the political life of Armenia. The opposition quartet is
making radical demands again. Dashnaktsutyun left the quartet but it
was replaced by the People's Party of Armenia (PPA) headed by lawmaker
Stepan Demirchyan.
At protests in regions and then in Yerevan on October 10,
oppositionists were speaking about the need to switch and government
and make radical changes.
"The country is in a unique situation when the government was left
in solitude, and opposition united. If people rise and make us switch
the government, it would become a reality, assumes Armen Martirosyan,
vice president of the Heritage Party.
Secretary of the Prosperous Armenia fraction Naira Zograbyan said that
300-400 people were leaving the country every day. In her words,
the government created such living conditions that many people
commit suicide.
Levon Zurabyan, the head of the Armenian National Congress (ANC)
fraction and the party's vice president, said at a meeting in Yerevan
on October 10 that it was time for the regime to give up power to
the nation. Opposition offers a peaceful switch of power. "The regime
and opposition should publicly reach an agreement on the road map of
ceding power. The regime should abnegate the intention of reproducing
Serzh Sargsyan's power using constitutional changes, prepare the
electoral system for real democratic elections and form legitimate
power in Armenia in limited time. In this issue, the government needs
several days. If they start persisting and reject the variant, our
next protest will gather more people, and our only goal will be to
oust the government using an all-national, civil wave of disobedience."
The agenda of the quartet includes off-year presidential
and parliamentary elections, blocking of government-initiated
constitutional reforms. Financial, economic and social improvements
are part of the plan. Overall, opposition has 12 demands, which are
not an economic program but they are necessary to make changes.
Despite the common political agenda, ANC, Heritage and Prosperous
Armenia were most likely seeing different outcomes. They have different
reasons for ousting the government. Raffi Ovannisyan, the leader of
the Heritage Party, probably has personal motives. He believes that
the government stole his victory achieved at the presidential polls in
2013. Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan, a major businessman,
realizes the catastrophic situation in business and remains concerned
about prospects of the economic situation. ANC remains a radical
oppositionist demanding a switch of power, democratization and
punishments for the death of 10 people on March 1, 2008...
The three parties are not opposed to Armenia's joining the Eurasian
Economic Union (EaEU), while Heritage expresses a contrary opinion,
believing that the organization is a threat for sovereignty of Armenia.
Despite different approaches, there are no issues of foreign policy in
their agenda. According to ANC leader Levon Ter-Petrosyan, activeness
of opposition in the parliament has overgrown the people's movement
that has no geopolitical goals and concentrates on solution of interior
problems. In his words, joining the Eurasian Union is an irreversible
fact and attempts of 20-30 people to prove the contrary are absurd.
The alliance of Prosperous Armenia, ANC, PPA and Heritage, development
of a common agenda and a common strategy demonstrate that Armenia is
in a new political situation. The long standoff of opposition and the
government in the parliament has turned into a new, wider format,
where masses of people are involved. The main reason conditioning
the change of format is stubbornness of the Armenian government,
its rejection of any proposal or project of opposition. Despite
numerous public protests and all arguments of the opposition to cancel
the accumulative component of pensions, the government has made no
concessions. Proposals of the opposition have introduced changes to
the new law on turnover tax. The latter has caused a major grievance
among workers of food markets. The parliamentary majority spoke
out against the law. The government concerned about rising protests
has only agreed to freeze effects of the law for four months. The
reluctance of the government to make even minimal changes has forced
opposition to take the fight beyond the parliament.
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/analysis/politics/61077.html