(Saturday, June 30)
“Azerbaijan has no idea what it can expect from these [new Armenian] government on the battlefield,” Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian military analyst, tells “168 Zham.” He speculates that Baku now hopes to ascertain Yerevan’s “intentions” and test the latter’s “real strength” by heightening tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.
“Zhamanak” looks at a set of amendments to the Armenian Electoral Code that have been drafted by an ad hoc team set up by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian. One of those amendments would lower the vote threshold for winning seats in Armenia’s parliament to 4 percent for political parties and 6 percent for alliances. “On the one hand, it would allow us to have a more representative parliament,” comments the paper. “On the other hand, it is hard to tell how a more diverse parliament would contribute to the establishment of a [democratic] political system, especially in Armenia where consolidation of political forces is long overdue.”
“Hraparak” notes that none of Armenia’s former presidents has ever been prosecuted or even questioned as a witness in a criminal investigation. “Yesterday Armenia’s law-enforcers broke that taboo,” writes the paper. “They first searched one brother of Serzh Sarkisian, looking for but not finding illegally owned weapons before freeing him. Then the investigative department of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) opened a criminal case against the other brother, Levon Sarkisian. We are sure that the majority of our society will welcome this news as a major step towards the triumph of justice.Indeed, maybe it’s about time everyone in our country, including the most protected individuals and, in particular, members of the family of the country’s leader, realized that everyone is equal before the law.”
“Aravot” says that Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) is now the only major political force which is in opposition to Nikol Pashinian’s government. “That party should rid itself of criminal elements in order to stand a chance of becoming normal opposition,” writes the paper. “Other opposition parties will also emerge within a year, before [fresh parliamentary] elections. They must not be labelled as anti-popular or anti-state.”
(Tigran Avetisian)
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