“Armenian Republican Party” and “Prosperous Armenia” party executed a coalition collaboration memorandum in the president’s office yesterday. Yesterday it was also announced that after some small disagreements, ARF became a part of the coalition too. ARF is going to be a part of the coalition government, but this time this relationship is called “cooperation”.
Yesterday in the president’s office ARF executed a coalition cooperation memorandum with ARP-PA. As a result of this cooperation, ARF received the right to appoint and recall the ministers of education and agriculture. These positions will be reassigned to Levon Mkrtchyan and David Lokyan accordingly, and in the meantime they will not have to “freeze their membership in ARF”. Besides that, Vahan Hovhannisyan will be given the vice speaker’s position. Armen Rustamyan will continue his office in the position of the foreign affairs faction head. As for the defense faction head’s position, it will be given to former defense deputy minister and ARF member Arthur Aghabekyan. ARF will also be given the position of Aragatsodn Marz governor (definitely they will appoint former governor Hrayr Karapetyan). According to ARF board member Armen Rustamyan, when the coalition holds a meeting to discuss policy and strategic issues, ARF will participate in such meetings with an advisory vote. It is very interesting that despite the fact that ARF has almost as many positions as ARP or PA, it is not a coalition member, but “cooperates” with it, being a part of it.
Furthermore, the absurd does not end with this. During a press conference following the execution of the coalition memorandum and collaboration memorandum with the coalition, ARF board member Armen Rustamyan said that according to their agreement, the right for appointing and recalling the minister of Social Service was up to ARP. Notwithstanding, ARF member Aghvan Vardanyan will continue his office in the Social Service minister’s position. This decision is “explained” with the existence of “a political collaboration culture” on the part of ARP and its consent to share with what it has. Answering a question whether ARF would be responsible for the actions of an ARF member minister appointed by ARP, Armen Rustamyan answered in a manner very much characteristic to ARF traditions. He said that notwithstanding anything, ARF “bears moral responsibility” for each of its member officials. In fact there is no difference between being a coalition member and being a part of the coalition, that is, in a collaboration relationship with it in the above-described manner. However, due to certain reasons “the old friends” have decided to give another name to their relationship with the coalition this time. Certainly, it is clear that the mentioned certain reasons are connected with the upcoming presidential elections. Armen Rustamyan says it is the reason ARF did not enter into the coalition as a member. “As you know, ARF has announced its intention to run for president with its own candidate,” said Rustamyan, and added that their party was going to elect the assumed candidate in autumn during their general meeting. “It is one year that ARF has clearly said that it will have its own candidate during the presidential elections. It is one year that people have been asking us whether this doesn’t mean that we will back Serge Sargsyan in the end. We have told them no,” said Rustamyan. He confessed that this situation is strange since on the one hand they are not a coalition member, but on the other hand – they have portfolios. The deadline for the coalition-ARF collaboration status is to be finished before the presidential elections. Rustamyan did not answer a question whether ARF would become opposition if Serge Sargsyan were elected. What if ARF has disagreements connected with the Karabakh issue? To this question Rustamyan replied, “If it comes to a deadlock and we have disagreements on the Karabakh issue, what sense does the coalition and cooperation with it make? In such case all these issues become less important.” Yesterday Rustamyan made some comments about the recent violent incidents in the streets and spoke about the need to prevent such incidents. Rustamyan was asked whether ARF would have its part in preventing the incidents, to which he answered indirectly and pointed out a provision in the cooperation memorandum with the coalition, which reads the following: “by the suggestion of one of the parties, for the purpose of establishing a joint stance, any issue related to the activities of the government and NA may become a subject for discussion”. “By the mentioned issues of any type, we mean issues that are of the most interest of the public, which may be connected with civil violations and other issues,” said Rustamyan.