“Zhamanak” says President Serzh Sarkisian, his predecessor Robert Kocharian and Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian are positioning themselves not so much for the 2013 presidential election as the next electoral cycle due in 2017-2018. The paper speculates that Kocharian’s and Tsarukian’s objective is to make sure that “there is no other entity aspiring to power” and thus leave Sarkisian with no choice but to eventually hand over power to them. For that reason, it says, they are ready to “hand” the 2013 ballot to Sarkisian while creating “as many complications for him as possible.”
Interviewed by “Haykakan Zhamanak,” BHK spokesman Tigran Urikhanian skirts a question about a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian that could be initiated by Tsarukian’s party in the parliament. “Every mistake by the prime minister and other government members will be highlighted by us, along with all consequences of that,” he says vaguely.
“Hraparak” wonders why President Serzh Sarkisian has appointed Victor Dallakian, a former radical opposition politician, as deputy chief of his staff and his legal representative to the National Assembly. Dallakian has bitterly attacked Sarkisian in the past. “Victor Dallakian is not the only politician forgiven by Serzh Sarkisian,” writes the paper. “Among such politicians are Artashes Geghamian, Hayk Babukhanian and others.” It says that by “using” them now Sarkisian hopes to reverse the “damage which they caused him years ago.”
“168 Zham” reports that the governing Political Council of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) did not even discuss the holding of fresh rallies in Yerevan at a meeting on Wednesday. “Council members were once again told that HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosian has not yet made a decision on participating in the presidential elections,” writes the paper. “And until there is such a decision the issue of the rally will remain uncertain.”
(Aghasi Yenokian)
Interviewed by “Haykakan Zhamanak,” BHK spokesman Tigran Urikhanian skirts a question about a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian that could be initiated by Tsarukian’s party in the parliament. “Every mistake by the prime minister and other government members will be highlighted by us, along with all consequences of that,” he says vaguely.
“Hraparak” wonders why President Serzh Sarkisian has appointed Victor Dallakian, a former radical opposition politician, as deputy chief of his staff and his legal representative to the National Assembly. Dallakian has bitterly attacked Sarkisian in the past. “Victor Dallakian is not the only politician forgiven by Serzh Sarkisian,” writes the paper. “Among such politicians are Artashes Geghamian, Hayk Babukhanian and others.” It says that by “using” them now Sarkisian hopes to reverse the “damage which they caused him years ago.”
“168 Zham” reports that the governing Political Council of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) did not even discuss the holding of fresh rallies in Yerevan at a meeting on Wednesday. “Council members were once again told that HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrosian has not yet made a decision on participating in the presidential elections,” writes the paper. “And until there is such a decision the issue of the rally will remain uncertain.”
(Aghasi Yenokian)