“Haykakan Zhamanak” says that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc will decide soon whether to ask the Constitutional Court to strip Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) leader Gagik Tsarukian of his parliament seat. The paper edited by Pashinian’s wife Anna Hakobian says that the authorities do not want to bully Tsarukian and that their objective is to “really separate business and politics.” “Armenia is a parliamentary republic and parties must be the main actors of its political life,” it says, adding that major Armenian parties are weak because all of them have only “one pronounced leader.”
“Zhoghovurd” says that when former President Serzh Sarkisian announced ahead of the 2017 parliamentary elections that 11,000 new members have joined his Republican Party (HHK) in the last few months few people took that claim seriously. The paper says most of those and other HHK members were forced to join the party and knew little about its platform and ideology. It says this was evidenced by an exodus of members from the HHK which began during after the 2018 “velvet revolution.” It is worried that just like the HHK Pashinian’s Civil Contract may admit scores of members having ulterior motives.
“Hraparak” carries an editorial on widespread violations of workers’ rights in Armenia such as arbitrary dismissals, a lack of overtime pay and various types of discrimination. “And if we add to this grueling work abroad and trafficking which Armenians endure in order to earn a little money it will become evident just how nonsensical it is to have a public holiday called Labor Day,” writes the paper. “These are certainly features of many poor and underdeveloped countries. As long as the country has a stagnant economy, closed borders, unresolved border and other disputes labor issues here will not find the best solutions and workers’ rights will not be respected.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
Facebook Forum