“Iravunk” suggests that President Robert Kocharian’s latest talks in Sochi with Russian President Vladimir Putin should “bring final clarity to the relationships existing within Armenia’s government pyramid.” “It seems beyond doubt that Kocharian and his supporters have no choice but to support Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian in the upcoming presidential elections,” the paper says. Turning to the opposition, it predicts that the opposition leaders will most probably fail to pick a single presidential candidate. The paper cites differing “geopolitical orientations” of various opposition leaders and their uneasy personal relations.
“Hayots Ashkhar” says that former Levon Ter-Petrosian and his loyalists have failed to build a broad-based opposition coalition that would promote his return to power. The paper also says that the opposition leaders have clearly failed to reach agreement during two rounds of negotiations on their joint participation in the 2008 presidential election. There will therefore be several opposition presidential candidates, it says.
“Gone are the days when one could present the voter with the shiny vision of a bright future and clinch a vote,” editorializes “Iskakan Iravunk.” “True, that has led to such extreme phenomena as electing any scoundrel in return for a vote bribe. But it is clear that if politicians have become extremely cynical and opportunistic, then the share of cynical opportunists in the population as a whole can only increase. That is absolutely logical.” Ordinary voters are not necessarily more honest than politicians and government officials, the paper says.
“Zhamanak Yerevan” says that the governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) has decided to compensate a “moral damage” inflicted on its recently replaced parliamentary leader, Galust Sahakian, “So as a result of the upcoming HHK congress, Galust Sahakian will become one of the party’s deputy chairmen,” reports the paper.
“Aravot” cites an unnamed HHK parliamentarian as commenting on the Dashnaktsutyun leaders’ efforts to distance themselves from the HHK-dominated government and statements that they are “neither in government, nor in government.” “I find it normal,” says the parliamentarian. “At wedding parties there are guests who are related to neither the groom nor the bride. They are the best man’s guests.”
(Atom Markarian)
“Hayots Ashkhar” says that former Levon Ter-Petrosian and his loyalists have failed to build a broad-based opposition coalition that would promote his return to power. The paper also says that the opposition leaders have clearly failed to reach agreement during two rounds of negotiations on their joint participation in the 2008 presidential election. There will therefore be several opposition presidential candidates, it says.
“Gone are the days when one could present the voter with the shiny vision of a bright future and clinch a vote,” editorializes “Iskakan Iravunk.” “True, that has led to such extreme phenomena as electing any scoundrel in return for a vote bribe. But it is clear that if politicians have become extremely cynical and opportunistic, then the share of cynical opportunists in the population as a whole can only increase. That is absolutely logical.” Ordinary voters are not necessarily more honest than politicians and government officials, the paper says.
“Zhamanak Yerevan” says that the governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) has decided to compensate a “moral damage” inflicted on its recently replaced parliamentary leader, Galust Sahakian, “So as a result of the upcoming HHK congress, Galust Sahakian will become one of the party’s deputy chairmen,” reports the paper.
“Aravot” cites an unnamed HHK parliamentarian as commenting on the Dashnaktsutyun leaders’ efforts to distance themselves from the HHK-dominated government and statements that they are “neither in government, nor in government.” “I find it normal,” says the parliamentarian. “At wedding parties there are guests who are related to neither the groom nor the bride. They are the best man’s guests.”
(Atom Markarian)