In the governmental arena the fight for the process of filtering and recruitment of loyalists is becoming tenser.
The forces that are in the government and the ones that strive for more power are constantly trying to recruit new people in order to become more powerful because in order to succeed in elections even the time from the current elections till the next cycle is short. Thus, in the government elite they are trying to clarify who’s who. Here there are two options for orientation – the wings of the former president Robert Kocharyan and the incumbent Serzh Sargsyan. And in the government the powers differ to the extent as to which of the mentioned presidents they serve. Indeed this division first of all relates to the Republican Party and the Prosperous Armenia. The latter has been considered the political backup of Kocharyan. According to our information the hesitant and undecided politicians are offered deadlines for their final decision as to which of the mentioned wings they belong to. And this process should be completed during the upcoming one year as starting from the next year the campaign will be out from the shade and active advocacy will commence. It seems that in the top circles of the government this process was over at the end of the last year via the RPA Congress, during which the RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan with his ministers Tigran Davtyan and Nerses Yeritsyan had become RPA members. Now the struggle has become active in the parliament, one of the most evident demonstrations of which was that the former Legal State MP Samvel Balasanyan was recruited to the Prosperous Armenia. Prior to that independent MPs Martun Grigoryan and Rustam Gasparyan had become members of that faction. A little later the RPA had started to hand in membership tickets to the independent MPs so that the latter would join the RPA faction and later the party. Many of the independent MPs have signed those tickets. The process of recruiting the independent ones is over and now the government got to fragmenting its own field by trying to figure out who belongs where and thus they are trying to “steal” MPs from each other. More accurately, this clarification process had started back in 2007, right after the parliamentary elections. But it hasn’t reached its final point yet. Now among the MPs the Prosperous Armenia and the RPA are conducting “inventory” to figure out their actual teammates. Regardless of the structure of the coalition government in fact the RPA has an absolute power in Armenia because the posts of the president, prime minister and the NA speaker belong to this party. In the NA, however, the basis of this party is not quite firm. The NA chairman Hovik Abrahamyan having been a member of the executive body of the RPA is not considered a loyalist. After the presidential elections an internal conflict has been struck between Hovik Abrahamyan and the head of his campaign office, which as they say despite the absence of evident demonstrations, is deepening even more. And now the chair of the Prosperous Armenia Gagik Tsarukyan has a big power in the NA and is not sufficed only with his party. The ARF, which was a loyalist force to Robert Kocharyan, by joining the Prosperous Armenia, may become a powerful opponent to the RPA. At the first sight, it seems that even if all the forces unite they can’t beat the RPA as it has the majority in the parliament. But here is where the “dog’s head” is hidden because this party doesn’t have a full control on all of its 63 MPs in the parliament. This party is also fragmented and one of its wings endorses Hovik Abrahamyan because of having controversies with Serzh Sargsyan. And having been the chair of the parliament the latter may bring certain RPA members to his side. Indeed, many people explain this with the fact that Abrahamyan is able to set good human relations and maintain them on the right rails by trying to support the people, who he brings to his side. And regardless of how surprising this may be the head of the RPA faction Galust Sahakyan is also considered a mine within the party. His friendship with Hovik Abrahamyan has a long history. And if Sahakyan is considered Abrahamyan’s supporter then MP Arman Sahakyan is with them (Galust Sahakyan’s son). One of the participants of the session of the RPA executive body came to a conclusion when he had noticed that Galust Sahakyan wasn’t voting on behalf of Cardan Ayvazyan during the well-known story. There is no doubt that Ayvazyan also belongs to that branch. Davit Harutyunyan and Karen Tchshamarityan are also considered the loyalists of Abrahamyan. It is extra to mention who would support the relative of Kocharyan’s son’s wife Vladimir Badalyan in the RPA faction. It seems that the son of the director (Maxim Hakobyan) of Zangezur Copper Factory Vahe Hakobyan has the same orientation. Let us remember that according to certified sources this factory actually belongs to Robert Kocharyan. According to certain media publications the Kocharyan family owns 50% of the stocks of the MAP factory, the owner of which Alexan Petrosyan is also supporter of this wing. However they say that the latter has a big wish to get rid of Kocharyan’s influence and partnership in business. Businesswoman MP Hermine Naghdalyan is also considered Abrahamyan’s loyalist. Therefore 9 out of the 63 RPA MPs are obviously supporters of Kocharyan. In the opinion of certain MPs it is no accident that this year the Audit Chamber has found serious violations in the activities of the ministry of nature protection occurred during the tenure of Vardan Ayvazyan. Indeed, during the tenure of Ayvazyan clamorous facts have been released in the media about his activities. Recently there were publications in the media that the Tax Service of Armenia is conducting intensive inspections in the companies belonging to the loyalists and friends of Abrahamyan and Tsarukyan. For example, the secretary of the RPA faction Edward Sharmazanov, NA deputy-chair Samvel Nikoyan, Gagik Minasyan, Mkrtich Minasyan, Artak Davtyan and others are evident supporters of Serzh Sargsyan. Indeed this list is not limited by the mentioned names. But in this faction there are a number of MPs that don’t “change the climate,” who haven’t figured out yet and are waiting for further developments. Indeed, all this is based on rumors and international conversations but those have confused many people. In fact the impression is that the representatives of the political field are included in the false start of a campaign. And it is not excluded that this game was launched by the government scenario to ensure who belongs to what wing. And many people have eaten this “seed.”