Armenian Prime Minister responded to journalists’ questions after the National Assembly-government Q&A session on Wednesday. There was particularly a reference made to the murders of Armenians in Russia and the steps taken by the Armenian side against that.
“If they are citizens of Armenia, then the Embassy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia or the representatives find out about the cases. If they are citizens of Russia, then we show what we can do so that they are more careful and so that interracial conflicts don’t arise. That issue has been discussed several times with the Russian authorities and they have assured that they would fight against those murders,” said the Prime Minister. In response to one of the journalists’ questions as to perhaps there is a need to change the elections in Armenia and have certain political parties decide who gets elected due to the fact that it is starting to become somewhat of a tradition to have the relative of this or that deputy get “elected” to this or that post, the Prime Minister said that there may be people who may have the desire to have their relative get elected to some post.
“But that’s not by appointing, it’s electoral and regardless of who wants what, the people must choose and they have to express their will,” continued Markaryan.
There are rumors flying around that Armenian Justice Minister David Harutyunyan is going to be part of the proportional list of the Armenian Republican Party. A. Markaryan mentioned that the public will know about that when the lists are turned in. He also advised to ask questions concerning the elections and lists after March 3rd.
In the law on citizenship, oppositionists announced that reforms are being made in the dual citizenship law in order to mix things up in the electoral lists. A. Markaryan had this to say to that:
“The lists will be ready before that. There can’t be that many dual citizens before May 12 to have an influence on the results of the elections. As for the presidential elections, I still don’t think that there will be that many dual citizens. We have approved a Constitution which clearly states that that issue is solved by law. It’s very rare to see dual citizens determine the fate of Armenia because they are not going to have the right to vote or get elected or serve in the army.”
Is there going to be a struggle between the Armenian Republican and “Bargavach Hayastan” (Prosperous Armenia) political parties during the upcoming parliamentary elections?
“Why only “Bargavach Hayastan”?-the Republican Party is going to compete with all political parties. We fear no one. We are competing with everyone. After May 12, the Republican Party will be ready to work with all political parties within the framework of the programs,” said leader of the Armenian Republican Party and Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan.
Recently, Republican faction leader Galust Sahakyan had announced that the more the curses, the more the aggression; he also said that the Republican Party will wait a little more and then react. Is the Armenian Republican Party planning on attacking? In response to this, the Prime Minister mentioned that G. Sahakyan is a philologist and said that metaphorically. “We will do whatever the others do, be it via interviews or any other means,” said A. Markaryan in closing.