Friday,
Pashinian Speaks Against Creating ‘Fake’ Oppositions
• Naira Nalbandian
Acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (C) during a meeting with ethnic
Armenians in Astana, Kazakhstan, 9Nov, 2018
Fake oppositions have eroded Armenia’s political landscape in the past two
decades, acting Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said at a meeting in
Astana with representatives of the Armenian community of Kazakhstan.
According to the Armenian leader, his government will not be taking that way.
“For quite a long time Armenia has not had a government and an opposition with
a mandate from the people, that’s why in Armenia people did not believe any
one,” said Pashinian, who on November 8 attended a summit of Collective
Security Treaty Organization member states in Kazakhstan’s capital.
“We are not going to create an artificial opposition, because it is up to the
opposition to establish itself as a viable force. In the upcoming parliamentary
elections the people will decide who will be the government and who will be the
opposition,” he added.
Political analyst Armen Baghdasarian believes that it is only
pseudo-governments that need pseudo-oppositions. In Armenia, he thinks, there
is no such risk at the moment. Moreover, according to the analyst, the real
struggle will be within the opposition field, as the Pashinian-led My Step
alliance will be a clear winner.
“The former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) claims that it will be the
only opposition. I think they are not quite honest and right, because the
opposition is not those who deliver critical speeches. The opposition is the
power that can really be a counterbalance and with which the public
dissatisfied with the government will connect its hopes. Now it is obvious that
no one in Armenia pins any hopes on the HHK,” Baghdasarian said.
The HHK has not yet made a formal decision regarding its participation in the
snap parliamentary elections scheduled for December 9.
The party’s spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on
Thursday that the HHK will hold a meeting on November 11 during which this
issue will be discussed.
Political parties and alliances have until November 14 to submit their
documents for registration in the elections.
Snap general elections were appointed in Armenia after the country’s popular
Prime Minister Pashinian forced the parliament’s dissolution with his tactical
resignation and two straight tactical votes in parliament that failed to elect
a new prime minister.
Pashinian’s political team, which came to power on the wave of anti-government
protests last spring, is tipped to win in the coming polls by a wide margin and
form the next government.
The pro-Pashinian My Step alliance polled over 80 percent of the vote in
September municipal elections in capital Yerevan, which is home to more than a
third of Armenia’s population.
Syunik Governor Vows ‘Unprecedented’ Elections
• Gayane Saribekian
Newly appointed governor of Syunik Hunan Poghosian addresses a rally in the
province, 19Oct2018
Hunan Poghosian, a recently appointed governor of one of Armenia’s most
crime-ridden provinces, has promised to ensure the holding of “unprecedented
elections” in Syunik next month.
Poghosian served as first deputy chief of police during most of former
President Serzh Sarkisian’s decade-long rule and resigned immediately after the
change of government brought about by peaceful demonstrations in April-May.
Nikol Pashinian, the leader of the demonstrations who ousted Sarkisian to
become Armenia’s next, prime minister, appointed Poghosian as Syunik’s governor
in October.
The appointment prompted criticism from some human rights activists and even
some Pashinian supporters, who accused the police general of corruption and
human rights abuses during the previous administration.
Pashinian, however, repeatedly defended his decision, alleging “attempts to
restore the old oligarchic logic” in Syunik. “The mountainous region bordering
Iran should therefore be governed by a tough security officer who can bang his
fist on the table and maintain law and order, protect civil liberties and
guarantee free enterprise,” he said at an October 19 rally in Kapan ahead of
local mayoral elections.
The candidate from Pashinian’s Civil Contract party was narrowly defeated in
the subsequent vote, with the prime minister blaming “criminal forces” for the
election loss.
Poghosian, who unlike other provincial governors who are members of Pashinian’s
political team, is not going to run in individual races in the December 9 snap
parliamentary elections, said his job was to ensure a proper conduct of the
polls in the province notorious for electoral violations.
“There must be legitimate, transparent and, in all senses, unprecedented
elections in which any eligible voter will have the opportunity to go to the
polls and vote for the party and candidate he or she prefers,” the Syunik
governor told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Friday.
Poghosian said he was never a party member and was not going to become one. “I
will be of use here by ensuring that the law is observed,” he stressed.
Armenian PM To Visit Paris For WWI Armistice Centennial Events
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L) and French President Emmanuel
Macron attend the national homage to French-Armenian singer-songwriter Charles
Aznavour in Paris, October 5, 2018
Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian will pay a working visit to
France on November 10-11, his press office said on Friday.
In the French capital Pashinian is due to attend a ceremony dedicated to the
100th anniversary of the armistice in World War I and take part in a session of
the Paris Peace Forum.
The events will be hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron and will bring
together a number of world leaders, including United States President Donald
Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Armistice of November 11, 1918 put an end to fighting on land, sea and air
in World War I between the Allies [France, the United Kingdom, the United
States and others] and their opponent, Germany.
It marked a victory for the Allies, with previous armistices eliminating
Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the war.
Around 40 million soldiers and civilians were killed in the four-year war waged
by the world’s leading powers of the time.
Armenians, then a people divided between two opposing empires – Ottoman Turkey
and Russia – suffered severe consequences of the war.
Some 1.5 million Armenians were exterminated by the Ottoman authorities during
the years of World War I in what many historians and more than two dozen
governments of the world today recognize as the first genocide of the 20th
century.
Pashinian’s visit to Paris will be his third since assuming the post of
Armenia’s prime minister in May.
In September, Pashinian went to France for talks with Macron ahead of the
summit of Francophonie nations that was held in Yerevan the following month and
was attended by the French leader.
On October 5, the Armenian leader visited Paris for a national homage to
Charles Aznavour, a world-renowned French-Armenian crooner who had died at the
age of 94.
Pashinian attended that ceremony jointly with Macron.
Press Review
“Zhamanak” writes that the November 8 summit of the Collective Security Treaty
Organization (CSTO) in Astana, Kazakhstan, in fact, confirmed the media
publications that at least some of the members of the Russian-led security
grouping do not want Armenia to retain its rotational post of the
organization’s secretary-general until 2020 and want to transfer it to Belarus,
which is next in line in alphabetical order. “This position, in particular, was
expressed by Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who reasoned that ‘in
any case Armenia’s quota has only one year to go and the new secretary-general
will not even have enough time to visit all the member states in order to fully
get down to work.’ This reasoning may seem logical, but considering the real
nature of the CSTO, the expression ‘fully get down to work’ sounds rather
ridiculous. The organization itself is more a formality than a
military-political bloc, and, therefore, the post of its secretary-general is
also a formal post,” the paper says.
On the same subject “Zhoghovurd” writes: “After Armenia recalled Yuri
Khachaturov from the post of the CSTO secretary-general, Belarus wants to take
over the senior leadership post at the organization. In this matter it enjoys
the support of Kazakhstan. And Russia, whose opinion in the bloc is decisive,
has not expressed its clear position yet. In any case, in this structure
decisions are made in accordance with a collegial principle. And if one member
vetoes a certain option, then the decision will not be made.” The paper says
that while formally Armenia has the right to retain the post, “there some
political nuances.”
Lragir.am writes: “In a new Facebook post former Defense Minister Vigen
Sargsian suggested that [acting Prime Minister] Nikol Pashinian needs a strong
opposition in parliament so as to be able to withstand growing pressure in the
Nagorno-Karabakh issue. According to Sargsian, it is only possible ‘through a
debate with a serious and experienced team to achieve supra-party consensus.’
Vigen Sargsian is right that it is very important when the state’s system is
composed not only of a strong government with strong legitimacy, but also of a
strong opposition with strong legitimacy. He is also right when he speaks about
the need for a debate with an experienced team, implying the former ruling
Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). In this sense, the HHK has no competition,
however hard it may be for some to admit. While retaining power through
usurpation for nearly two decades, simply due to being a governing party the
HHK naturally had more knowledge of foreign-policy and security issues than
others.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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