Arman Melikian, a former Nagorno-Karabakh foreign minister who stood in Armenia’s 2008 presidential election, tells “Aravot” that the May 31 elections in Yerevan “will further deep the political crisis” in the country. “Unfortunately I can today claim with much greater certitude that it is very likely that there will again be bloody clashes between the authority and the opposition,” says Melikian. “All the conditions for rigging the elections remain in place. Given voters’ increased distrust in the authorities, I think that the votes cast for the authority will not be enough to have a serious advantage in the municipal council elections.” He says Levon Ter-Petrosian and the Armenian National Congress (HAK) will have little choice but to counter vote rigging with another push for regime change “by all possible means.”
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” is critical of the tax authorities’ decision to have “permanent representatives” to Armenia’s largest corporate taxpayers. “In all likelihood, the authorities intend to oversee big business’s super profits, rather than its compliance with tax obligations,” says the opposition daily. It says the measure will not work because large companies will have no trouble bribing tax agents.
“Hayots Ashkhar” reports that the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has again revised downwards its macroeconomic economic outlook for this year. The CBA now expects the Armenian economy to contract by 5.8 percent in 2009. It had forecast a GDP decline of 3 percent less than two months ago and a growth of 5 percent earlier in the year. “This means that the Central Bank does not control the economic situation anymore,” comments the paper.
Rafik Petrosian, a parliament deputy from President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), assures “Zhamanak” that there are no “serious disagreements” between the HHK and the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK). “You will become convinced about that after the elections are over,” says Petrosian. “It’s just that every party now wants to test its authority and image in the public. After the elections the pro-government parties will naturally join forces and elect a mayor.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
“Chorrord Ishkhanutyun” is critical of the tax authorities’ decision to have “permanent representatives” to Armenia’s largest corporate taxpayers. “In all likelihood, the authorities intend to oversee big business’s super profits, rather than its compliance with tax obligations,” says the opposition daily. It says the measure will not work because large companies will have no trouble bribing tax agents.
“Hayots Ashkhar” reports that the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has again revised downwards its macroeconomic economic outlook for this year. The CBA now expects the Armenian economy to contract by 5.8 percent in 2009. It had forecast a GDP decline of 3 percent less than two months ago and a growth of 5 percent earlier in the year. “This means that the Central Bank does not control the economic situation anymore,” comments the paper.
Rafik Petrosian, a parliament deputy from President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), assures “Zhamanak” that there are no “serious disagreements” between the HHK and the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK). “You will become convinced about that after the elections are over,” says Petrosian. “It’s just that every party now wants to test its authority and image in the public. After the elections the pro-government parties will naturally join forces and elect a mayor.”
(Tigran Avetisian)