Tweet
THREE OR NONE?: OPPOSITIONAL "TROIKA" HAS UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOLLOWING TSARUKYAN SHUTDOWN
POLITICS | 23.02.15 | 15:20
GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Leaders of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and of the Armenian
National Congress (ANC), neither confirm nor deny the assessment
of Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian that "the troika does
not exist".
Hovannisian made the statement at a rally last Friday, referring to the
three-party coalition that had hope to form a collective opposition
but appears non-existent now following PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan's
humiliating loss in a power play against President Serzh Sargsyan.
Tsarukyan had called an "urgent" rally to presumably gain support
for a public movement to force a snap presidential election.
After Sargsyan's government threatened to prosecute Tsarukyan for
unpaid taxes, the powerful businessman relented and pulled his party
out of the very rally he had called. ANC withdrew its participation
as well, leaving only Heritage. No more than several hundred people
showed up to hear Hovanissian say:
"If today, at this moment, under these snowflakes, we get together
with hundreds of thousands, there would be a new Armenia. But somebody
did not want that. It is not Heritage that left the troika. It's a
pity that our colleagues decided to leave the troika on their own
initiative."
PAP spokesman Tigran Urikhanyan would not comment on whether the
troika is officially dissolved. "Follow our colleagues, and you will
know later," Urikhanyan told ArmeniaNow.
ANC spokesman Levon Zurabyan said that the parties must hold
consultations and only afterwards make announcements about whether
the three parties will attempt to continue their cooperation.
According to Armen Badalyan, expert of political and elective
technologies, the question of troika's existence will be decided by
the three political forces and not only by one of them.
"It is no secret that two of those forces are important - the PAP
and the ANC. Strictly conditionally we can call Heritage an existing
party with a small number of followers, a small number of members and
almost no resources. That's why here the important factor is whether
the PAP and the ANC will collaborate, or whether each of them will
claim their own path," Badalyan told ArmeniaNow.
The analyst also says that forces outside Armenia's political field
control what happens internally.
"It is no secret that the problem of the government in Armenia is no
more solved by the public, but rather by Russia," Badalyan said.
http://armenianow.com/news/politics/60877/gagik_tsarukyan_raffi_hovannisian_serzh_sargsyan
POLITICS | 23.02.15 | 15:20
GOHAR ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Leaders of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and of the Armenian
National Congress (ANC), neither confirm nor deny the assessment
of Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian that "the troika does
not exist".
Hovannisian made the statement at a rally last Friday, referring to the
three-party coalition that had hope to form a collective opposition
but appears non-existent now following PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan's
humiliating loss in a power play against President Serzh Sargsyan.
Tsarukyan had called an "urgent" rally to presumably gain support
for a public movement to force a snap presidential election.
After Sargsyan's government threatened to prosecute Tsarukyan for
unpaid taxes, the powerful businessman relented and pulled his party
out of the very rally he had called. ANC withdrew its participation
as well, leaving only Heritage. No more than several hundred people
showed up to hear Hovanissian say:
"If today, at this moment, under these snowflakes, we get together
with hundreds of thousands, there would be a new Armenia. But somebody
did not want that. It is not Heritage that left the troika. It's a
pity that our colleagues decided to leave the troika on their own
initiative."
PAP spokesman Tigran Urikhanyan would not comment on whether the
troika is officially dissolved. "Follow our colleagues, and you will
know later," Urikhanyan told ArmeniaNow.
ANC spokesman Levon Zurabyan said that the parties must hold
consultations and only afterwards make announcements about whether
the three parties will attempt to continue their cooperation.
According to Armen Badalyan, expert of political and elective
technologies, the question of troika's existence will be decided by
the three political forces and not only by one of them.
"It is no secret that two of those forces are important - the PAP
and the ANC. Strictly conditionally we can call Heritage an existing
party with a small number of followers, a small number of members and
almost no resources. That's why here the important factor is whether
the PAP and the ANC will collaborate, or whether each of them will
claim their own path," Badalyan told ArmeniaNow.
The analyst also says that forces outside Armenia's political field
control what happens internally.
"It is no secret that the problem of the government in Armenia is no
more solved by the public, but rather by Russia," Badalyan said.
http://armenianow.com/news/politics/60877/gagik_tsarukyan_raffi_hovannisian_serzh_sargsyan