IS THERE PRESSURE ON ORINATS YERKIR?

Iragir/am
18/03/06

“I do not know about attempts of pressing the Orinats Yerkir Party, and
I have no information on this,” stated the chairman of the Committee
of Defense, Internal Affairs and Security, deputy chairman of the
Orinats Yerkir Party, Mher Shahgeldyan on March 18.

He actually denied that the government presses those members of
the party who run or used to run businesses to hamper the political
aspirations of the Orinats Yerkir Party. He declined to comment on
the police search in the house of Member of Parliament Gagik Avetyan,
saying that the member of parliament himself, as well as the leaders
and members of the political party have made relevant statements.

Mher Shahgeldyan thinks it is useless to try to influence the decisions
of the Orinats Yerkir, because the party has considerable potential
for making independent decisions on its further political activities.

“We make our plans ourselves. The Orinats Yerkir Party is the biggest
political force in Armenia. The Orinats Yerkir has considerable
potential and has an important role in both internal and external
affairs. The leader of the party also has a considerable importance
and authority in internal and external policies. This potential
and importance is so big that we decide on our plans,” says Mher
Shahgeldyan.

With regard to specific plans he is even less wordy. Mher Shahgeldyan
is reluctant to state how and with who the political party will run
for the parliament in 2007. He only says that the Orinats Yerkir
Party will do what it will find adequate, which is a matter of time.

The relation with the coalition is, according to Mher Shahgeldyan,
also a matter of time. Only the period before the election, more
exactly the pre-election period, is definite. It has been set down
in a memorandum which marks the solidarity of the opposition over
this period, says the member of parliament.

However, even the memorandum and even over this period will not
guarantee peace for the coalition. And the next thunder may happen
during the upcoming four-day meeting on March 20. The government is
going to raise again the question of amendments to the law on energy
directed at diversification of nuclear energy. The bill was introduced
during the previous four-day meeting, and underwent strictures on
behalf of the Orinats Yerkir in particular. The political party
thinks that private capital cannot be given a deciding role in the
sphere. Therefore, the vote to the project was put off, but the
government does not seem to be likely to change their initiative
essentially. On March 18 Mher Shahgeldyan announced that the standpoint
of their party was unchanged either. “We think that the state should
have a deciding role in the sphere of nuclear energy. We think it is
absolute that the state must be the main shareholder of this nuclear
plant or the nuclear plant that will be built,” says Mher Shahgeldyan.