Compared to parliamentary elections 2007 this time the proportional list of the Republican Party will undergo drastic changes. It is already announced that the list will be led by President Serzh Sargsyan.
As a result the main filling of the RPA list will start from number two. To a certain extent this place is considered number one. So who is going to be the first after Serzh Sargsyan? And if only four months ago a silent struggle was going on for this place between Hovik Abrahamyan and Tigran Sargsyan, now it seems that everybody has become calm about the possibility that the Armenian Prime Minister will lead the list after Serzh Sargsyan. According to certain information, for the third place the names of the speaker of parliament Samvel Nikoyan and Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan are being discussed. At any rate, according to our sources, these two officials will place either 3rd or 4th on the list. It is not excluded that the 5th on the list may be the former speaker of parliament Hovik Abrahamyan, who is currently considered the head of RPA’s chapter. However, recently there were rumors in the media that when this campaign chapter is created Abrahamyan will not lead it anymore. They also say that he will quit this post because of health issues. And there is a possibility that he might be outside Armenia for awhile. Also, there is an opinion that Abrahamyan, having complained about his place on the list, may also run as a majoritarian candidate in district 17 of Artashat. In an opposite case, his brother Jonik Abrahamyan, will run in the same district, who was elected MP in 2007 elections from the same district. Let us remember that in summer 2008 he resigned so that his brother would be elected NA chair. Most probably the 6th place on the RPA list will be held by a female candidate. According to the new election code, there should be a woman in the 1-5 positions. And it’s still unknown who’s going to be the happy women of the RPA. This place is bid by all the women of the RPA – Hermineh Naghdalyan, Karine Atchemyan and even Hranush Hakobyan. They say that according to the RPA list will not include Vazgen Karakhanyan, Mkrtich Minasyan, Hamlet Harutyunyan. They will be replaced by new nominees – Levon Martirosyan from MIAK and Naira Karapetyan. There is also an opinion that this time the RPA may not bring to parliament Tachat Vardapetyan, Spartak Melikyan, Hayk Sanosyan. The latter will be replaced by such MPs, who will fight for example the ANC in parliament without any inhibitions. And so for this reason the RPA will bring to parliament Artashes Geghamyan, Khosrov Harutyunyan and they even say Hayk Babukhanyan. And as this time all the parties, who have the chance to get elected, are strengthening their positions, the RPA perhaps will try to do the same. The latter should in a larger sense withstand all the other factions so that the elections don’t deviate by the scenario sketched by them and to ensure that RPA doesn’t turn from majority to minority. This time the RPA highlights the quality as one of the main criteria of getting a party ticket to ensure that its nominees will be able to literately fight with other factions in the parliament. The same can be said about the majoritarian candidates. Moreover, in this case it is going to be decisive whether the candidate, who is running as a single-candidate candidate, is able to bring quality and funds to the party. In this sense, Manvel Badeyan, Nahapet Gevorgyan and Ashot Arsenyan will run as single-mandate candidate as opposed to proportional list. Rafik Petrosyan, Levon Sargsyan, Harutyun Pambukyan and Armen Purtoyan will leave the parliament. The latter couldn’t even be saved during the discussion of the budget 2012. Let us remember that because of the absence of quorum the bill was about to be failed if Purtoyan and Vahe Hakobyan hadn’t vote on behalf of their absent colleagues. Instead of Purtoyan the RPA will bring Samvel Farmanyan, Mher Sedrakyan, Artur Grigoryan and others. By the way, according to our information, as a result of the very last deal of the coalition S. Sargsyan has divided the 41 districts for good, by keeping 23 districts for the RPA. It means that in these districts the coalition parties should not run against the RPA candidates. With the same logic – 7 seats were given to Prosperous Armenia and two seats to the Legal State. One district, #18, was given to the member of the ARF member Arayik Grigoryan. From this district the current MP is Manvel Ghazaryan, who has appeared in the black list of the government because he read his notorious letter during the 2008 rally of the opposition. In the next 8 districts anybody can run and the ones, who are elected as a result of “fair competition,” will be elected MPs. Yesterday we tried to find out from the RPA spokesman Edward Sharmazanov what the status of finalization of the proportional list and majoritarian arrangements of the RPA is. The latter said that the lists will be publicized on time. At this point, neither the executive body nor the council of the party, have discussed this matter. They are currently preparing for the March 10 rally. What principles will be applied when making the lists? “Months back the President of Armenia during his meeting with businessmen mentioned that the business sector should be separated from the legislators and state governance. There must a clear line where politics and business are. And this comes to speak of the principle that the RPA list must mostly include politicians,” said Sharmazanov. But isn’t this statement an imitation considering the fact that these businessmen are encouraged to run as majoritarian candidates? “No, it is not an imitation. It’s one thing to be a businessman and another thing to be an owner. It is like that in the world. People, who have property and ownership, can be in politics. In the US, the representative of Rockefeller family was about to become a presidential candidate after submitting the post of the governor of New York. Let’s remember Busher’s family. And ultimately, the RA constitution allows them to run if they agree to give their ownership to somebody else’s management. And the proportional list will mostly have political faces. As of RPA’s rating, in local government elections of February 12, our candidates won most of the seats, about 90%. This comes to speak of the fact that despite numerous issues the local residents trust RPA. And this is the best result of social polls, which gives us grounds to say that the RPA is the favorite in the race,” he said.