“Hraparak” hits out at the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) for thwarting a parliament session on election-related amendments put forward by the Armenian opposition. The paper says this is why the HHK had made sure that it has a “qualitative majority” in the National Assembly. “In this case, using the word qualitative is certainly shameful because the HHK faction has no connection whatsoever with the original meaning of that word,” it says. “Quite the opposite.” The paper speculates that the HHK majority in the parliament boycotted the session scheduled for Wednesday in order to “show the opposition its place.”
“It is strange when the oppositionists protest against the parliamentary majority’s boycott given the fact that only recently the BHK faction, using the lifting of one of its members’ immunity from prosecution as an excuse, boycotted a four-day session of the National Assembly,” writes “Hayots Ashkhar.” “If the BHK uses that method of political struggle, why should the parliamentary majority not do the same?” The pro-government paper says the BHK and the opposition factions are now exploiting the matter to draw the Council of Europe’s attention. Within Armenia, it says, few people care about what happened on Wednesday.
“Aravot” says the BHK and the opposition forces represented in the parliament realize that they cannot galvanize the public with the ideas of turning Armenia into a parliamentary republic and holding parliamentary elections only under the proportional system. “Most of our fellow citizens do not know the wisdom of doing that,” editorializes the paper. Nor can ideas such as democracy, government legitimacy or justice consolidate most Armenians at this juncture, it says.
“Those concepts are too general and it is almost impossible to show their connection with the wages or pensions of every citizen,” continues “Aravot.” Getting rid of the regime also cannot be a unifying idea.” The paper claims that most voters lambasting or even cursing the government will rather accept an election bribe and vote accordingly than take to the streets.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that two officers of the Armenian traffic police were dismissed on Wednesday after being caught behaving inappropriately in a YouTube video viewed by tens of thousands of people. The paper says that while their dismissal will not eliminate corruption in the traffic police it should at least force many other officers to be “more cautious in their traditional behavior.” It says this case proves that ordinary citizens can “do a revolution” if they try to counter government abuses.
(Tigran Avetisian)
“It is strange when the oppositionists protest against the parliamentary majority’s boycott given the fact that only recently the BHK faction, using the lifting of one of its members’ immunity from prosecution as an excuse, boycotted a four-day session of the National Assembly,” writes “Hayots Ashkhar.” “If the BHK uses that method of political struggle, why should the parliamentary majority not do the same?” The pro-government paper says the BHK and the opposition factions are now exploiting the matter to draw the Council of Europe’s attention. Within Armenia, it says, few people care about what happened on Wednesday.
“Aravot” says the BHK and the opposition forces represented in the parliament realize that they cannot galvanize the public with the ideas of turning Armenia into a parliamentary republic and holding parliamentary elections only under the proportional system. “Most of our fellow citizens do not know the wisdom of doing that,” editorializes the paper. Nor can ideas such as democracy, government legitimacy or justice consolidate most Armenians at this juncture, it says.
“Those concepts are too general and it is almost impossible to show their connection with the wages or pensions of every citizen,” continues “Aravot.” Getting rid of the regime also cannot be a unifying idea.” The paper claims that most voters lambasting or even cursing the government will rather accept an election bribe and vote accordingly than take to the streets.
“Zhoghovurd” reports that two officers of the Armenian traffic police were dismissed on Wednesday after being caught behaving inappropriately in a YouTube video viewed by tens of thousands of people. The paper says that while their dismissal will not eliminate corruption in the traffic police it should at least force many other officers to be “more cautious in their traditional behavior.” It says this case proves that ordinary citizens can “do a revolution” if they try to counter government abuses.
(Tigran Avetisian)