Epress.am News from Armenia
During press briefings in parliament today, Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D) MP Artyush Shahbazyan explained why his party did not back Heritage Party candidate Larisa Alaverdyan in the voting for the National Assembly chair.
“Even after [the elections], when Mrs. Larisa said in an interview that she was very pleased and it turned out very well, it appeared how much of an opposition and only opposition they are. That’s how it seemed to me, that really their aim was that [that is, to show that they’re opposition].
“I don’t want to assess that; we wouldn’t do such a thing. Perhaps it’s a very talented move by the opposition, but let’s judge it this way: was that initiative serious or not? That is, was the purpose truly so that they would be able to win and the opposition with its 4 votes would be able to achieve the status of a chairperson, as well as that of the parliamentary vice chair. If not, then a question arises: what problem are they solving?
“If it was another problem, perhaps, it was another problem… in any case, if we’re colleagues, we have to understand what’s happening — in order to be in favor,” he said.
The purportedly opposition MP also recalled that even not all of the 6 Heritage Party MPs participated in the voting — party leader Raffi Hovannisian and MP Zaruhi Postanjyan were notably absent.
“In this case, the ARF-D had to understand what it was going after,” Shahbazyan said.