– Mr. Oskanyan, several days ago you announced that you were discussing the possibility of cooperation with the Prosperous Armenia party. You said that you did not exclude the possibility that very soon you would make your final decision. Does this mean that in the pre-election period you are announcing about your active involvement in politics in the PA’s team?
– Several days have passed since my last announcement and things have not change much and there is no final decision yet. But I can say that my discussions with the PA are quite deep already.
– Is it possible that you may be involved in the PA’s proportional list? There have been publications that you would be in the second place in that list.
– It is not about involvement in the list; it is about my cooperation with this party in general. And as I said, those discussions have gone deep in that direction already.
– Do you think that it is possible that you may become a member of that party?
– It is not excluded.
– Why do you want to cooperate with the PA specifically?
– There are several factors connected with the PA that I have taken into consideration. First, the PA is a political party but is not politicized. I think I am not mistaken about my impression and my impression is that in case of having the power the PA will recruit experienced people in the government, who are honest notwithstanding the way they have passed in politics. Second, the perception of the society concerning the PA is not as an opposition party but an alternative to the incumbent government. Third, I think that currently the PA has the highest level of reputation in the society. I think this is a very important factor in consideration of the current political situation in the country. I think this perception was due to the behavior of that party because during these years they have not been disliked by any political powers. I mean they have not chosen the policy of blackmailing others. This is a privilege asset, which means that his party has the opportunity to start cooperation with any political powers both before and after elections. Third, I think the PA has the highest level of reputation in the society. By strengthening the PA in the current political phase we will have an opportunity to change the political situation in the parliament.
– The PA is the second governmental power and is involved in the state administration system. What is the reason why the PA did not recruit and involve the professional and experienced fair people as you said in the state administration system and become apolitical alternative?
– Because our coalition is not natural but artificial coalition. That is the reason why the responsibilities for any processes are put on the RPA mainly as they have majority in the parliament and can pass any decisions solely. It is impossible for the other coalition powers to do anything that does not have the support of the majority. That is why during its existence the PA has always been independent but in cooperation with the authorities.
– Does this mean that the PA needs more votes to become the power you described? Does it have to be majority?
– Yes. There must be either a real coalition. For example, if I am not sure that the part7y will strongly fight and struggle for political processes, I will not join it. I think that with the PA party it will be possible to hold free and fair elections, establish counterbalances, and go to forming a real coalition in order not to let one political party have monopoly.
– What do you think about the recent incidents to the PA? I mean the arrests and resignations of the members. It is one year that the relations between the RPA and PA are tense.
– I have not gone into details of those relations but my impression is that those are done for political purposes. But it would be better if such thing did not happen because it is very possible that these parties may make a coalition (I mean a real coalition) in the future parliament and work together. I hope that these problems will be solved soon and we will be able to fight against the challenges, the problems of the people and solutions.
– Are the processes that are happening between the PA and RPA routine tension or real clash between the two parties?
– I said that during these years the PA has adopted a very unique policy. On the one hand it has been trying to keep independence, and on the other hand has cooperated with the parliamentarian majority and has not had ideological confrontation with the ruling parties. As far as there was no political competition in the country, this policy was acceptable by the RPA. But now there is competition for elections and it seems that this policy is not accepted by the RPA. My impression is that the PA is offered to cooperate with the condition that they have to give up on their independence. I think that this is the reason for tension.
– You have encouraged the initiative on part of several opposition parties and the PA to adopt a system of full proportional elections. You have announced that this can be a reason for a civic movement. Can this initiative unite those powers in the threshold of elections?
– All political powers pursue the goal of holding free and fair elections, otherwise the political struggle and competition is useless. The debates and discussions about the proportional and majoritarian systems of elections come out of the fact that all we know how the majoritarian elections are organized and hold in Armenia. And if it is not possible to exclude the majoritarian system of elections, the political powers should make sure that they can establish a mechanism of elections enabling to start the process together and hold in fair conditions. Otherwise we will not be able to provide development for the future years. I think that the cooperation of these powers is very important and there must be mechanisms for that. I would recommend all the parties, including the RPA, establish a joint headquarter for controlling the elections. Each party can have representatives there and agree upon the procedures of controlling over the elections. It will show who wants fair elections and who does not.
– There is an opinion that the tension around the PA is because of the second president Robert Kocharyan because he wants to rely on this political power after the elections.
– One of the shortcomings in our political culture is that we are connecting all political processes with presidents.
– During a conversation with us you have even said that Kocharyan would have political involvement. Do you think he may participate in the presidential elections of 2013? By the way, there are rumors that you may become their candidate. There were rumors about nominating you for president in 2008 too.
– We have never discussed the issue of nomination in the presidential election 2013 during my meetings with Kocharyan. For me personally it is very soon to think about it.
– There are hints from the RPA that the PA is violating the memorandum of the coalition powers committing to keep the proportion of the parliamentary powers after the upcoming elections as well. The PA’s announcements to get more seats are accepted as a violation of the memorandum and commitments therein.
– I have spoken about that announcement and said that those specific provisions were not democratic. In fact with those memorandum provisions they were trying to decide what the people wanted. But the voters are the ones to decide how to vote and who to vote for. I think that it may be possible to make those provisions come true if these parties participate in the elections with one joint list. If they are not participating in the elections together, they should not look for guilty people. The document is guilty.
– You are saying that it is up to people to decide. But in Armenia neither the people nor the authorities believe that people are the one who make the government through elections.
– This thinking should be broken. I am stepping into this process for the purpose of changing the situation through fair elections, as well as to transform the political competition from the level of mutual accusations to political dialogue and discussions. In the pre-election period we should discuss the problems of people, challenges, organize TV debates and shows to show to people that they are a part of the struggle and understand who will lead the country during the coming years. We should explain this to people. But we have not related very seriously to parliamentary elections. I am sure that if you ask people they will say that Armenia is a presidential type of state. Through the parliamentary elections the voters indirectly elect their prime-minister, I mean the political power that will appoint the prime-minister. According to the RA Constitution, now the powers of the prime-minister can be identified with the powers of the president. The entire social and economic sector of government is under the control of the PM and his decisions do not have to be approved by the president. The president has more powers only concerning security, defense and foreign relations issues. The prime-minister has the authority over the other issues. Prime-minister is appointed by the parliamentarian majority, which is directly elected by voters during parliamentary elections. This is the reason why I think these elections are so important. If we want to have political counterbalances in the political sector, we must relate seriously to these elections. Please imagine what the new situation will be if the prime-minister is not from the ROA and is from another party. It will be a counterbalance to the president and the country will benefit from it. In case of such counterbalances state officials will have to serve for the people instead of deciding issues in their parties only.
– During the previous government the PM was the representative of the parliamentary majority but not the president, but did not have a big role in the social and economic policy. Eventually all decisions were made by the president.
– Yes, it has always been like that. But now the political and economic situation is totally different in Armenia. The economic situation in the country is very bad and there is a need for drastic changes, which will be possible to do only in case of forming a new political majority in the parliament.
– There is an opinion that the political power with majority in the next parliament will have more opportunities to win the presidential election.
– First of all we should have a normal parliament and if there is a need the laws should be amended for the purpose of making sure that the elections will be fair and transparent. But let’s not dispute the parliamentary elections with the presidential election. It will lead us in a wrong direction.