Will Vartan Oskanian Return?
HAKOB BADALYAN
12:38 12/12/2012
Story from Lragir.am News:
Gagik Tsarukyan still keeps silence in reply to the press reports that
he has decided not to run and not to support anyone in the upcoming
election. The feeling is that Tsarukyan has really decided to do so.
At least, no one from the Prosperous Armenia Party has refuted these
reports.
There are no posts on Vartan Oskanian’s Facebook wall either.
Vartan Oskanian’s factor in this case is really interesting. The point
is that the ex-foreign minister is one of the conceptual advocates of
the PAP’s participation in the elections. He stated that the PAP
should nominate its own candidate for president, and if Gagik
Tsarukyan does not want to run, he is ready to be the PAP nominee.
Later, Vartan Oskanian posted on Facebook, after the party’s meeting
in the brandy factory, that Gagik Tsarukyan proposed to nominate him
for president but the party’s territorial offices demand Tsarukyan’s
nomination.
Now that Tsarukyan may not participate at all, Oskanian’s actions
become interesting. Tsarukyan’s decision would not only concern his
own nomination but also the party’s overall actions.
The question occurs whether Vartan Oskanian will go against the
decision of the party and will run for president or whether, despite
Tsarukyan’s decision, Oskanian will try to show an example of the
`parliamentary’ government putting forth the issue for discussion in
the party.
Otherwise, it will be strange if the issue is resolved by Gagik
Tsarukyan’s decision only. The PAP and Vartan Oskanian in particular
support the parliamentary republic so they are against decisions made
by a single person. Consequently, they need to show such an example.
Vartan Oskanian may nominate himself, which will be something like his
`personal opinion’ which he often expresses. Anyway, the PAP leader
has never condemned Oskanian for his tough statements about the
government which were later referred to as his personal opinions.
Consequently, Oskanian may nominate himself independently from PAP.
Moreover, he supports competitive politics.
In other words, Vartan Oskanian’s political `belief’ seems to make him
act as an alternative to Serzh Sargsyan, otherwise all words sound
superfluous and valueless.
The same goes for the PAP in general and in particular Gagik Tsarukyan
if he does not run. But Oskanian’s situation is different. Unlike
Tsarukyan, he is a political figure. Despite his numerous past
political mistakes he still has an effective role in the process of
political modernization and resources for a position and status.
In this sense, it will be even good for the ex-foreign minister if
Tsarukyan does not run and does not nominate Oskanian either. He will
have a chance to return to the civil sphere through self-nomination.
If he fails, the responsibility will mostly fall on the party which
left Oskanian alone against the system.
As to the content, in this situation Oskanian got an exceptional
chance to return to the civil content. In other words, he could return
to the starting point, correct the mistakes which he committed wasting
the valuable resource he had gained by his effective political
activities.
No need to miss the `flight’ until Vartan Oskanian has enough money
for a `ticket’ to the civil sphere.