“The political parties of the coalition have promised to continue cooperating until the 2007 National Assembly elections in order to then use the election time period wisely. We have to do our best to make sure that the pre-election campaign doesn’t hurt the election process, which is very important for the country. The only guarantee for this is if the coalition members cooperate with each other, respect each other’s opinions, fulfill their responsibilities, discuss and solve matters in a civilized manner,” states the agreement.
Since the first day that the coalition was formed, it was clear that it was phony because the three political parties didn’t form the coalition in order to have one ideology, but rather to go at each other’s throats to see who sits in the big chair. The coalitional political parties have started to go their separate ways and often go against each other. The representatives of the coalition had met with President Robert Kocharyan in the beginning of the year and had promised to keep the coalition together until the 2007 parliamentary elections. But they did not keep their promise after about a week. Now they announce that they are going to fulfill their promise in a written statement.
According to the coalition representatives, they wouldn’t make that agreement if they didn’t feel the need to. They have simply made it clear that they are together.
“The coalition shows once again that it is taking decisive steps and is taking on the responsibility of stabilizing the political situation and the country, for that matter,” said leader of the National Assembly’s Armenian Republican political party group Galust Sahakyan. National Assembly Vice-Speaker and member of the ARF Vahan Hovhannisyan is also of this opinion and says the representatives came to this agreement in order to stop speculations. As for leader of the “Rule of Law” political party Samvel Balasanyan, they made the agreement so that they can start working efficiently. The agreement states that the coalitional political parties have agreed to work together by respecting each other’s opinions, fulfill their responsibilities and discuss issues in a civilized manner. We asked whether or not the political parties had not respected each other.
“There has always been mutual respect, but the political situation in Armenia has changed and eventually, the political parties must express their opinions under these conditions,” said Galust Sahakyan. According to member of the ARF and National Assembly MP Alvard Petrosyan, there is a need for such an agreement because “the political parties don’t follow the rules of simple etiquette, they offend each other and sometimes do things based on their desire, will and politics.” This was Alaverdyan’s opinion. As a matter of fact, a couple of months ago things were not so good between Armenian Republican Party MP Armen Ashotyan and Rule of Law MP Samvel Balasanyan and Hovhannes Markaryan. The conflict got to the point that they all started offending each other from the National Assembly podium and in the media. Yesterday, we found out from Armen Ashotyan whether or not this agreement was a result of all the conflicts and will this agreement put an end to all conflicts. According to Mr. Ashotyan, he has never made any personal comments.
“Political cooperation will last until 2007. It is clear that each political party has the right to express its opinion and eventually, there will be disagreements among coalition members. What’s also eventually going to happen is that there will be some announcements made by this or that political party. The Armenian Republican Party has gone along with the coalition’s requirements since 2003 and I am certain that our party will not go against any requirement. If, of course, the rest of the coalition members keep their promise too,” he said.
Each of the MPs assured that their political parties will not go against the agreement signed but they will protect themselves if necessary.
“I am not a fortune teller or anything, but this is yet another chance for us to show that we not only talk, but actually do something,” said Armen Ashotyan.
As for Samvel Balasanyan, he said:
“If they have agreed, then they have to keep their promise. A man must keep his promise.”
However, according to the oppositional side of the coalition, the political parties of the coalition will not be able to keep their promises for a long time.
“I would like to see them keep their promises, not so they can sign these kinds of agreements, but actually do something. But currently they are working with the principle of “We don’t care about what you think-we will do it our way”,” says member of the National Assembly’s “National Unity” political party Alexan Karapetyan. However, the opposition does not believe in the coalition.
“I think that the coalition representatives will not be able to hold on much long and will start going at each other during the pre-election campaign,” said secretary of the “Justice” alliance Victor Dallakyan.
P.S. The vice president of the Armenian Republican Party Tigran Torosyan, member of the Supreme Body of the ARF Armen Rustamyan and vice president of the “Rule of Law” political party Mher Shahgeldyan have also signed the agreement.