Yesterday at about 12:00 pm the leader of the Republican Party Serzh Sargsyan, leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of the Legal State Party Artur Baghdasaryan and the representative of the ARF Dashnaktsutyun Supreme Body Armen Rustamyan signed an agreement on political coalition at the government of Armenia. Let us remember that due to the “Agreement on Political Coalition” signed by the Republican Party of Armenia, Legal State, Prosperous Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsoutyun, the parliamentary and presidential elections, processes that lasted more than a year, fall to the bosom of history together with the tumultuous post-electoral developments. It’s not accidental that signing the quadrilateral agreement on political coalition coincides, in time aspect, with lifting the state of emergency in our country. This means that after the period of the political debates and accusations, the factions which signed the memorandum boldly commit themselves to helping the country overcome the existing situation. After signing the coalition agreement the journalists were not enabled to ask questions to the coalition parties. After singing the agreement the parties made short speeches, drank champagne and left. The whole ceremony took 13 minutes. This is the first time the principles of the activities and the keynote priorities of the political coalition, the obligations, the procedure and the time limits of organizing the activity of its member parties is defined in a concrete and clear-cut manner. The existing document differs from the previous coalition agreements in that it does not define the concrete spheres of the legislative and executive powers in which separate parties belonging to the coalition may propose staff members. We’d like to present the short speeches of the coalition signatories.
Serzh Sargsyan has said, “Today we have created a political coalition, the objective of which is implementing improvements and most serious changes in our country. I think this is an unprecedented event because in past coalitions were built around the government. These will be large-scale changes that will be painful for many people, and, in order to be able to implement these changes on a large scale, we need serious public support. Today we have signed this document with the purpose of joining our efforts. We ask for the support of the society and specifically the media. That support will help us implement our plans and reach good results.”
Armen Rustamyan said, “I believe that the agreement was the product of protracted negotiations. We signed a document about political accord which does not suppose distribution of the ministerial portfolios. Nothing in the agreement speaks about the portfolios. We didn’t signify that. The new coalition will have to work hard to diffuse post-election tensions. Today the most important task is reduction of tension in the country. The second important thing is to implement the provisions included in the agreement. And I’m sure that by solving these issues it will become possible to essentially improve our lives.”
Gagik Tsarukyan said, “Today we signed a coalition memorandum. This once again obliges us to unite our efforts for the sake of our people and try to make their hopes come true. We must strive to live up to the people’s expectations and create conditions for work, education and a prosperous life. I am sure that with the current team we will be able to reach significant results.”
Artur Baghdasaryan said, “I think that it is the first time in Armenia’s history that an important agreement is signed, which has several peculiarities. First of all the political forces that set up the coalition had gained majority of votes and confidence in the society. Secondly the coalition is taking political responsibility for the activity of the authorities. We haven’t had anything like this before. These four parties won the majority of votes both in the parliamentary and presidential elections and thus take the whole responsibly of governing the country. Third, over a short period of time
Armenia will be able to occupy a worthy place in the list of stably developing states as the government will implement serious social-economic reforms. The last important peculiarity is that the Azerbaijani-Turkish advocacy machine tried to use the internal political situation on their behalf. Through this agreement the sides, which signed the agreement, demonstrated a political determination to withstand the internal and external challenges of the country.” Let us mention that the agreement will be in force until the deadline of the current parliament’s term, however, any party to the agreement is eligible to renounce it.