Before the new candidate for the mayor’s position would be nominated the RPA members knew in advance that the executive body of their party would nominate Karen Karapetyan, the director of ArmRusGazArd company, for the position of the mayor of Yerevan.
They thought that the president would make an announcement and say that Karen Karapetyan is going to be the mayor. Even though rumors were spread that Karen Karapetyan does not want to take that position, before he would be nominated some members of the city council were getting prepared for the inauguration event. Certainly Karen Karapetyan understands what kind of responsibility he is taking on before the upcoming elections.
The moods are different in the RPA. Certainly the RPA people will agree with the decision of president Sargsyan but the fact is that in the result of a recent session of the party, which lasted three hours, they failed to make a final decision. According to our information, during this session they discussed other issues as well such as the issue of new appointments, as well as the issue of dismissing new people. They decided to organize a board meeting to adopt the final decision. The reason they are holding this session is the fact that many representatives of this party did not welcome president Sargsyan’s actions.
The republicans complain that the new candidate is not one of them, and president Sargsyan has failed to be independent enough so that Russia does not insist on its candidate for this position. Most of them would like to endorse the candidacy of the Andranik Margaryan’s son, their party peer Taron Margaryan. Following these events the republicans started to discuss not the issue who of these two candidates would be better, but the issue how much they dislike the candidate to be nominated. First, they complain of the fact that he is not a member of their party and he is the second person after Tigran Sargsyan who is not a member of their party but is appointed in a high position. They did not want Tigran Sargsyan to get that position at that time either, but through the time they got used to it. Shortly he became a member of that party too. It is hard to say if Karen Karapetyan may become a member of the RPA too. However, the party activists are discussing the negative sides of this candidate. They say that Karen Karapetyan is the loyalist of former president Robert Kocharyan, and is a representative of the “Karabakhi clan”. Many republicans don’t like this idea either. He has a very tight connection with Russia; the Armenian government has 20% in the ArmRusGazArd company but it is totally controlled and ruled by Russia. Many party members also refer to the fact that Taron Margaryan is respected not only by their party people but by the citizens of Yerevan as well. They believe that the positive attitude of the people of Yerevan to Taron Margaryan could play a key role during the parliamentary elections of 2012. The people of Yerevan believe that Karen Karapetyan is guilty in the gas price growth.
The RPA also discussed the issue of appointing a new minister of justice. The potential candidate was Hrayr Tovmasyan, who works as an expert of constitutional right at the German GTZ organization in Armenia. His candidacy was a surprise for many people, including the RPA. Rumors say that his candidacy was brought up by former minister of justice Davit Harutyunyan. They are in close relations and they have worked on many laws and bills, including the electoral code. But in this case the republicans were very surprised and even confused to see Davit Harutyunyan’s opportunities. During the past month he could dismiss two high rank officials. Rumors say that even he has tried to be an obstacle for the former justice minister’s work as in his office as the head of the NA standing committee on state and legal affairs he tried to impede, stop or criticize the bills Gevorg Danielyan sent to the parliament. It is worth mentioning that Davit Harutyunyan was able to do this with the support of prime minister Tigran Sargsyan. This is what people see because during the government’s session the prime minister criticized these two officials. People don’t understand what the connection is between the former justice minister and the incumbent prime minister that can fire so many high rank officials. In addition, davit Harutyunyan is in close relations with the president’s adviser Gevorg Kostanyan, thus he can make his opinions to be delivered to the president. Now the republicans are very careful in their relations with davit Harutyunyan as they are afraid he may speak on them. The first official was fired because of the fact that he had delayed the customs procedures for Davit Harutyunyan’s daughter, and the second official was fired for beating up his relative. By the way, this relative has been hired in the same position again and another person (M.Poghosyan) will be fired too, who will be the third official fired due to the efforts of Davit Harutyunyan. However, notwithstanding Davit Harutyunyan’s efforts, the RPA people believe that it was the right decision to dismiss M.Poghosyan.
There will be RPA session soon and during this session president Sargsyan will explain to hundreds of officials why he is going to appoint new people in those positions. He will also try to explain or convince the party members so that they don’t complain either.