“The results of the Armenian parliamentary elections go to show the success of the political course of the current government of the country,” announced deputy of the Russian Duma and head of the institute of CIS countries Constantine Zatulin, who has also followed up on the elections.
It turns out that on Election Day Zatulin noticed changes in the mood of the public.
“During that time (the time from the 2003 parliamentary elections to the present-ed.), not only has there been a political change of generation, but also a change in the mood of the electorate. Whereas it was fashionable to criticize the existing government in 2003, as was done by opposition party leaders Stepan Demirchyan, Aram Sargsyan and Artashes Geghamyan, now none of them entered parliament,” said the Russian deputy. Zatulin also mentioned that these elections weren’t conducted as a struggle against the current government, rather as a competition between the two political parties most desiring running for the presidency – the Armenian Republican Party and the “Prosperous Armenia” party. The victory of the Republican Party, according to Zatulin, means that not only will Serge Sargsyan maintain his position as prime minister, but will also be the major future presidential candidate. The deputy also mentioned that Serge Sargsyan is the co-president of the Russian-Armenian intergovernmental commission and “is doing much for the development of the relations between the two countries”.
“However, I think that one important question remains: will the Republican Party form the government on its own, or will it offer the runner-ups – “Prosperous Armenia” and the ARF – to form a coalitional government?” mentioned Zatulin. He does not agree with the opinion of the Russian politicians that Armenia’s current government has only a pro-Russian position.
“It would be silly to think like that. The Government of Armenia has a pro-Armenian position, in other words, while it keeps cooperative ties with Russia, it doesn’t close its doors to the West. Both sides – Armenia and Russia – still need to make a lot of effort to turn the cooperative ties into federative ties,” mentioned Zatulin.