HHK, BHK and HAK to Have 100 Lawmakers in Parliament: Forecast

The campaign period ahead of the 2012 parliamentary elections is distinguished by a few characteristics, the first of which is that “total Republicanization” is taking place, political analyst Suren Surenyants told members of the press in Yerevan earlier today.

This “Republicanization,” according to the analyst, is apparent through two state ministers (and earlier the prime minister) joining the ranks of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), which means that the administration, essentially, is coalescing with the ruling party.

“I presume that the HHK has made it a point to secure 65–70 seats in parliament. This means that [HHK leader and Armenian president] Serzh Sargsyan has made it a point to establish a monolith centralized power,” he said.

On the matter of the ruling authorities and opposition forces, Surenyants said there are rocky developments in both camps: there’s the complicated relations between HHK and the Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) on one side and the issues related to the Armenian National Congress (HAK) compiling its list of parliamentary candidates on the other.

“[HAK leader] Levon Ter-Petrossian most likely has to think, find new tools to ensure HAK’s unity or wholeness because this election cycle might impact unity within HAK. There’s another intrigue — that’s the possible alliance between the Heritage Party and the Free Democrats. If this happens, there will definitely be some changes in the configuration of the opposition arena,” he said.

According to Surenyants’ forecasts, HHK, BHK and HAK will occupy 100 seats in parliament (out of a total of 131 seats), while also in parliament will be the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktstutyun) and if they form an alliance, the Heritage Party and Free Democrats.

In the analyst’s opinion, HAK won’t form a coalition with BHK and HHK (the two parties currently part of the ruling coalition with junior partner Rule of Law, or Orinats Yerkir), but will become the parliamentary opposition — at the same time continuing to organize rallies and to use the parliamentary platform to prepare for the 2013 presidential elections.