Yesterday it unexpectedly became known that during a Legal State political board session the party decided to recall its two ministers of Communication and Transport, Gurgen Sargsyan, and minister of Emergency Situations, Mher Shahgeldyan.
The party made this decision during its session taken place on Sunday. Meanwhile the party has also determined the names of the ones, who should be replaced by the outgoing ones. The party decided to promote the candidature of Manuk Vardanyan to the post of minister of Communication and Transport and Armen Yeritsyan- minister of Extraordinary Situations. It is interesting that Armen Yeritsyan is the deputy Chief of Police and Manuk Vardanyan, during Kocharyan’s tenure, used to be the head of Cadastre Committee. These offices are factually taken from the Legal State. Yesterday the chair of the party faction Heghine Bisharyan and party MP Hovhannes Margaryan were assuring the journalists that there is no need to be surprised of the replacement because all of this is aimed at party building. Shahgeldyan will be in charge of the political issues of the party and Sargsyan will coordinate the economic bloc. But perhaps the Legal State was dissatisfied with the work of its members and that’s the reason why the latter are called back. “They have enjoyed the trust of the party. We have given them more responsible tasks,” said Margaryan. The main opinion regarding this combination is that the Legal State is preparing for the upcoming parliamentary elections. The members of the party, indeed, didn’t deny this fact. “Any political force is preparing for elections. Indeed we got serious strategic issues within the party. And our experienced party members Shahgeldyan and Sargsyan will be in charge of the solution of these issues,” commented Margaryan. Here the key question is as to what elections the Legal State is preparing for – ordinary or extraordinary. It is not excluded that the government is preparing for extraordinary elections as recently they have started to speak quite frequently about this. The theme of the extraordinary elections is mostly circulated in the framework of the NKR conflict resolution process. In the background of the recent developments in the governmental circles they speak that the government has appeared under harsh pressure to sign documents and the Armenian authorities evidently don’t have any chance to step off from the process. But it is not excluded that the government will have to go to the step of conducing by-elections in parliament to relive the outside pressure. But even if not so the government has little chance to avoid by-elections. Only in two years in 2012 parliamentary elections will be held in our country and our government as usual starts the campaign one year prior to elections. Let us recall that especially Shahgeldyan has a big experience in conducting elections. It is only enough to remember the constitutional referendum of 2005. Shahgeldyan was the head of the “yes” campaign. And the latter succeeded in falsifying the results of the elections due to the efforts of its school principals. Thus, the government may need his experience in the upcoming elections. This change is as unexpected as sensational because the Legal State was simultaneously replacing two ministers. In the event of one minister we may understand that the party is resolving a party issue but in the event of two such claims are not justified. This means in fact this is not a representative issue. And it should be viewed in the context of changes within the government. The names of the new Legal State members prove this fact. It would be naïve to think that the Legal State wasn’t able to find two of its members to appoint to these posts. It is clear that Vardanyan and Yeritsyan have become Legal State members with the awareness of the government elite. Indeed the Legal State members are denying these doubts. Asked whether Armen Yeritsyan and Manuk Vardanyan had previously affiliated with the party, Legal State faction leader Heghine Bisharyan gave no answer. She told that the reshuffle of government posts is determined by changes in the party’s strategy. "We are pleased with our ministers. Mher Shahgeldyan will be in charge of the party’s political affairs and Gurgen Sargsyan of the economic blog," said Heghine Bisharyan. Asked why the new candidates are not from the Legal State ranks, Mrs. Bisharyan said: "The new appointments are of vital importance and we chose professionals with rich working background." In reply to a question whether by saying "the party has reviewed its strategy" they mean the Legal State is preparing for the upcoming parliamentary election, Heghine Bisharyan said: "Naturally, if a party makes inner reforms, it is getting ready for an election." As a rule, change of ministers happens in spheres where there are drawbacks. When an economic crisis harms the country, it would be logical to change the ministers of the economic and social unit. The situation in the Ministries of Transport and Emergency is relatively normal, although a couple of days ago, information flashed about the disclosure of the facts of abuse in one of the offices of Ministry of Emergency Situations. Apparently, the Legal State did not want to remain on the sidelines but wanted a little to resist. Let us mention that according to our information Yeritsyan has such relative ties with Artur Baghdasaryan. And he has often helped the Legal State with certain party issues. His opinion has even been decisive for this party. Vardanyan has also had close ties with Baghdasaryan. He has hired several of Baghdasaryan’s relatives. There was time when the head of the regional branch of Cadastre of Arabkir was appointed Baghdasaryan’s uncle. So Bisharyan is right. As a result of this change another circumstance is interesting as well. Yeritsyan being a leader of a power structure didn’t have the right to become a party member. But he had done it late Sunday when he was still occupying the post of the deputy-chief of police. In this regard a member of the Legal State has given contradicting answers. He had first said that Yeritsyan is a Legal State member then he corrected himself by saying that he’d become a party member after he quits his job in the police. “We have already made this decision in the political board session. He will quit today his job. He will become a party member after he writes a letter to us. We all know the legislation and the Constitution. Everything will be done in the frames of the law,” responded Margaryan. And yesterday the resignation and appointment of Yeritsyan and Vardanyan was released at around 9 p.m. This means one day after they’d become Legal State members.