“Zhoghovurd” discusses a second demonstration against the rise in electricity prices that was due to take place in Yerevan on Friday. “The organizers have great expectations that the rally will be attended by many people in a resolute mood,” writes the paper. “Will the rally against the tariff increase live up to these expectations? Will it be so strong as to give the authorities food for thought?”
“Also important is what will happen after today’s protest,” adds “Zhoghovurd.” “Will this wave have the kind of momentum that we saw in 2013 during the campaign against the rise in transport fees?” Those protests forced the municipal authorities in the Armenian capital to keep the cost of public transport unchanged.
“In recent days a number of well-known artists have joined the movement against the increase in the cost of electricity,” writes “Haykakan Zhamanak.” “They are spreading over the Internet their pictures with captions saying ‘No to the illegal rise in electricity prices.’”
“Zhamanak” comments on President Serzh Sarkisian’s latest meeting with leaders of about a dozen Armenian political parties, which focused on his controversial plans to amend Armenia’s constitution. It emerged during the meeting that the Sarkisian administration really wants to abolish presidential elections as part of Armenia’s transition to a parliamentary system of governance. “The whole [political] struggle in the country will center on the parliament seats,” says the paper. “And on this front Serzh Sarkisian and the Republican Party (HHK) solved their issues in February when they neutralized their main intra-government rival, Gagik Tsarukian, who had been trying, together with a part of the government apparatus, to end the HHK hegemony.”
(Nane Sahakian)