Epress.am News from Armenia
By signing a new coalition memorandum, the ruling authorities want it to be understood that “there’s no match for us” and with it, they’re showing their strength, said political analyst Edgar Vardanyan, speaking to Epress.am
Recall, Prosperous Armenia MP Vardan Bostanjyan told reporters earlier today that it’s likely the ruling coalition parties — Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Prosperous Armenia party (BHK), and Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law, or OEK) — will sign a new coalition memorandum, “if necessary.”
Asked whether a new memorandum assumes that the previous memorandum has lost its power, Edgar Vardanyan said: “The first memorandum, actually, was anti-political and against the spirit of the Constitution, since it excluded competition among the given political parties — they were all united around one person, Serzh Sargsyan. Thus, from the start it was understandable that this illogical memorandum was problematic.”
According to the analyst, if a new coalition memorandum is signed, it will aim only to refresh the memorandum already in effect and diffuse “the tension between specific people in the ruling teams.”
Asked whether signing a new memorandum by active political forces isn’t perhaps illogical, three months before the parliamentary elections, Vardanyan advised not to view the issue in this context, since “the memorandum generally doesn’t have anything to do with political processes, but is simply a display of force.”
“There can’t be fair and transparent elections under the conditions of this regime. Such elections would mean suicide for the ruling authorities. Fair elections can only happen under great public, democratic pressure. A movement, the aim of which is not to achieve power [in government], but to create the means to form government,” he said.