“This cannot go on another seven years,” this is how the statement of the Heritage party of yesterday was entitled. Prior to that statement, the Heritage faction quite unexpectedly boycotted the NA session. First, the chairman of that party Raffi Hovhannisian made a speech and said that the policies and agenda of the parliament do not reflect the needs and demands of the society. The ruling coalition controls at least 100 seats in the current 131-member National Assembly. Critics say the coalition forces effectively committed themselves to predetermining the election outcome and further reducing opposition presence in the parliament at any cost. Hovannisian echoed those claims, calling the coalition deal “unconstitutional” and saying that Sarkisian is keen to stay in power for seven more years. “The message to the Armenian society was that the state is me and nothing can be done against me,” he told the National Assembly. “Unfortunately, the existing correlation of forces between the majority and the opposition doesn’t satisfy the governing party leaders, and they have set their sights on these few opposition seats. There is no need to rig another election. As the Holy Mass says … take it and eat it, this is your heritage,” Hovannisian said. The Heritage leader finished his speech amid angry shouts from members of the parliament’s pro-presidential majority. “Dear colleagues, I share your indignation,” Samvel Nikoyan, a deputy speaker presiding over the session, told them. In a statement issued later in the day, Heritage said its governing body will meet this weekend to discuss the party’s “further strategy and tactics” in the parliament. According to Stepan Safaryan, a senior Heritage lawmaker, among the options under consideration will be a permanent boycott of parliament sessions and even a formal surrender of its six parliament mandates. As a response to this ruling Republican party members addressed swear words to the members of the Heritage party but Safaryan said that all this was planned in advance. Afterwards the Heritage members left the NA session hall. He also said that later in the week the governing body of the Heritage will meet to discuss the party’s “further strategy and tactics” in the parliament. And prior to that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation faction of the NA took a 20-minute break to understand what their colleagues had done. After a short consultations of Vahan Hovhannisyan and Armen Rustamyan from the ARF with Stepan Safaryan Vahan Hovahnnisyan stated, “We think that the analysis of our colleagues regarding the political situation is quite right but the solutions that they are offering are of tactical character and they are the ones to decide.” To the question of the journalists whether the ARF will join the boycott of the Heritage Vahan Hovhannisyan responded that in order to make such a decision they have to do their own analysis. Later on, after a 4-hour discussion at the ACNIS the Heritage spread a statement, according to which the Heritage said its governing body will meet on March 6 to discuss the party’s “further strategy and tactics” in the parliament. So it means that the party still needs to decide whether they are going to boycott only these sessions or all the spring sessions. When speaking to us the press secretary of the Heritage Hovsep Khurshudyan told us that yesterday they haven’t discussed the matter of giving up the MP mandates. Let us recall that in a joint declaration signed on February 17, Sargsyan’s Republican Party (RPA) and the Prosperous Armenia and Legal State parties pledged to campaign for the incumbent president’s reelection in 2013. The governing parties also made clear that they will not seek to change “correlation of forces within the Coalition” in parliamentary elections due in May 2012. They expressed confidence that they will have even more seats in Armenia’s next parliament. Besides that the declaration read that as a result of certain changes their political role will be increased and the society will trust them even more and the representation of the ruling coalition will be increased in the parliament. And these sentences were interpreted as the obligation of the government to enforce the results of the upcoming elections. And if the ruling coalition expects to have a higher representation in the parliament then they should do it at the expense of the few members of the opposition represented in the parliament. And so the statement of Hovhannisian can be understood in this context. At any rate, there was something strange in the statement of the Heritage. If as Safaryan claimed that their steps had been agreed and planned in advance then what was the point of the late evening 4-hour session at the ACNIS? And why have they decided to determine their steps on the March 6 meeting. The Heritage MPs refused to give any interpretations. Prior to that they have decided to boycott the upcoming NA sessions.
