Thursday,
Tsarukian Allies Opposed To Backing Sarkisian
• Ruzanna Stepanian
Armenia - President Serzh Sarkisian visits a new leisure center built by
businessman Gagik Tsarukian (R) in Tsaghkadzor, 20Dec2017.
Two senior members of businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s political alliance said on
Thursday that its parliamentary faction must not vote for Serzh Sarkisian’s
appointment as Armenia’s new prime minister.
Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) confirmed late on Wednesday that
it will nominate him for the country’s top executive post. The Armenian
parliament will elect the prime minister on April 17.
The HHK controls 58 of the 105 seats in the National Assembly, putting it in a
position to ensure that Sarkisian continues to govern Armenia after the end of
his decade-long presidency. The ruling party can also count on the backing of
the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, its junior coalition partner holding 7
parliament seats.
The Tsarukian Bloc, which claims to be in opposition to the government, has yet
to announce whether its 31 parliament deputies will vote for or against
Sarkisian.
One of the bloc’s leading parliamentarians, Sergey Bagratian, said: “Should an
opposition faction vote for the government’s candidate or not? It’s a simple
question. Naturally, if you are in opposition you will vote against the
government’s candidate.”
Tsarukian’s bloc will “have a problem with being [seen as] opposition” should
it decide to back Sarkisian’s candidacy, Bagratian told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am).
Another senior Tsarukian Bloc figure, Naira Zohrabian, agreed. “We are in
opposition and a vote for [Sarkisian] would not be comprehensible in any way,”
she said.
Zohrabian made clear that she and other deputies representing the bloc will not
have a free vote on the new prime minister. “This is going to be a political
vote and the Tsarukian Bloc must vote in a uniform way,” she said.
Tsarukian’s political allies regularly criticize government policies and even
vote against government bills. But they have avoided personal attacks on
Sarkisian, leading some commentators to question the tycoon’s opposition
credentials.
Other PM Candidates ‘Also Considered By Ruling Party’
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - The headquarters of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia in
Yerevan, 8Sep2016.
The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) has discussed several candidacies
before nominating former President Serzh Sarkisian for prime minister, Justice
Minister Davit Harutiunian claimed on Thursday.
“I have already said before that no big party can have only one candidate for
prime minister,” Harutiunian told reporters. “Naturally, the HHK cannot be an
exception and have a single prime ministerial candidate.”
He said the HHK leadership backed Sarkisian’s candidacy for Armenia’s top
government post in view of “existing challenges” facing the country. “I can
assure you that such discussions within the party have been quite open and even
heated at times,” he said. “I will certainly not talk about details because
they relate to internal party processes.”
Harutiunian refused to name any of the other candidates who he said were
considered for the top job.
His remarks contradict what the chief HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, said
after Wednesday’s meeting of the party’s executive body which unanimously
endorsed Sarkisian’s appointment as Armenia’s next prime minister.
“We did not discuss any other names,” Sharmazanov said. “No other opinions were
voiced or, I think, crossed anybody’s mind.”
Sarkisian became the HHK’s chairman one year before taking over as Armenia’s
president in 2008. His critics believe that his nomination by the HHK is a mere
formality which has not been even genuinely discussed by the party leadership.
They say Sarkisian decided to hold on to power years before serving out his
second presidential term on Monday.
Armenian Government Signals U-Turn On Tax Rise
Armenia - Prime Minister Karen Karapetian holds a cabinet meeting in Yerevan,
.
Armenia’s government moved on Thursday to cut personal income tax which was
mostly raised as recently as three months ago.
Recent amendments to the Armenian Tax Code raised from 26 percent to 28 percent
the tax rate for monthly incomes ranging from 150,000 to 2 million drams
($310-$4,150). The rate for those earning more was set at 36 percent. The
amended code at the same time cut the tax rate from 24.4 percent to 23 percent
for workers making less than 150,000 drams a month.
Opposition groups condemned this and other tax rises which took effect on
January 1, saying that they will hurt the middle class and push up key consumer
prices. In February, the Armenian parliament voted down an opposition bill that
would repeal the higher tax rates.
Government officials insisted until now that the more progressive income tax
will put a heavier financial burden only on high-income individuals. They
argued that 90 percent of employed Armenians will not have any additional sums
deducted from their wages because of a complex method of income calculation.
Outgoing Prime Minister Karen Karapetian unexpectedly signaled a policy change
as he opened a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan. “Our preliminary estimates
show that it is necessary to address the issue of reducing the income tax
rate,” he told ministers.
Karapetian said that a tax cut would increase Armenians’ real incomes and help
companies attract more skilled workers. He stressed that such a measure must be
accompanied by a “substantial” toughening of the government’s declared fight
against tax evasion.
Karapetian instructed the ministers of finance and economic development and the
head of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) look into the matter and submit
relevant “proposals” within the next 10 days.
The SRC claims to have already improved tax administration over the past year.
The total amount of taxes and customs duties collected by the government agency
rose by more than 7 percent last year. The SRC reported a further rise in tax
revenue in the first two months of this year.
The International Monetary Fund praised the Armenian government’s “efforts to
improve tax administration” already in June 2017. It said that they have
“contributed to the higher-than-projected revenue collection.”
Yerevan ‘Hopeful’ After Azeri Election
• Tatevik Lazarian
AZERBAIJAN -- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban arrive
at a polling station in Baku,
Armenia hopes that Azerbaijan will agree to major confidence-building measures
in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict after President Ilham Aliyev’s victory in a
snap presidential election, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
According to official results of Wednesday’s election boycotted by the
Azerbaijani opposition, Aliyev secured a fourth consecutive term in office with
more than 86 percent of the vote. Western observers criticized the conduct of
the ballot.
“The Azerbaijanis took a break in negotiations [with Armenia,] saying that they
will be holding elections,” said Tigran Balayan, the Armenian Foreign Ministry
spokesman. “This was their most recent excuse to delay the implementation of
agreements that were reached at the last three [Armenian-Azerbaijani] summits.”
“We now hope that they will not try to find another excuse for avoiding the
implementation of those important agreements,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian
service (Azatutyun.am).
Balayan singled out an understanding which was reached by the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers at their meeting held in the Polish city of
Krakow on January 18. According to U.S., Russian and French co-chairs of the
OSCE Minsk Group, Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov agreed “in principle”
to expand an OSCE mission monitoring the ceasefire regime in the Karabakh
conflict zone.
Nalbandian said late last month that Baku is now refusing to “honor that
agreement.”
The co-chairs visited Baku, Yerevan and Stepanakert in early February. They
said in a joint statement that the warring sides pledged to “continue intensive
negotiations, taking into account the current electoral period.”
Aliyev was reelected two days after Armenia’s Serzh Sarkisian completed his
second and final presidential term. The Armenian parliament is widely expected
to name Sarkisian prime minister on April 17. The latter should thus remain the
country’s most powerful official.
Balayan could not say whether Yerevan and Baku will hold further high-level
talks soon. “As far as I know, there is no such agreement at this point,” he
said.
Armen Baghdasarian, an Armenian political analyst, suggested that Aliyev and
Sarkisian will now be in a position to resume the Karabakh peace process. “It
is now clear who will govern Armenia and Azerbaijan for the next five years,
and that will contribute to the start of a new phase of peace talks,” he said.
Press Review
Serzh Sarkisian’s nomination by the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) for prime
minister was “totally anticipated” for “Zhoghovurd.” The paper says that
Sarkisian has for years “consistently worked” to prolong his rule. “This is why
he initiated [in 2014] the process of constitutional changes in the first
place,” it says.
“Zhamanak” also comments on the nomination announced after Wednesday’s meeting
in Yerevan of the HHK’s Executive Body. The paper notes that the announcement
coincided with a presidential election in Azerbaijan used by the incumbent
Ilham Aliyev for securing a fourth term in office. “Thus April 2018 is
affirming or reaffirming government configurations or the status quo in Armenia
and Azerbaijan,” it says. “And that is happening against the background of
extremely high geopolitical tensions [between Russia and the West.]”
“168 Zham” reports that Wednesday also a unanimous ratification by Armenia’s
parliament of the recently signed Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership
Agreement (CEPA) with the European Union. “The agreement will come into force
in full after being ratified by the EU member states and the European
Parliament,” writes the paper. It says the CEPA holds a “key to Armenia’s
salvation” not so much because of its political and economic provisions as “in
the civilizational and geopolitical sense.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says that the latest round of U.S. sanctions against
Russian officials, oligarchs and major companies may also hit Armenia’s
economy. The paper argues that one of those oligarchs, Oleg Deripaska, owns the
Armenal aluminum foil plant in Yerevan through his Rusal group. “One the one
hand, Armenal-Rusal is an Armenian-based company and its products carry a ‘made
in Armenia’ inscription,” it says. “On the other hand, that plant belongs to
Deripaska.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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