NDU OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER BELIEVES WITHDRAWAL OF “ORINATS YERKIR” FROM RULING COALITION APPROPRIATE

Yerevan, May 12. ArmInfo. The withdrawal of “OY” party from the
ruling political coalition of Armenia was appropriate and expected,
Leader of the National Democratic Union included in the “Justice”
opposition bloc, MP Vazgen Manukyan says in an interview with ArmInfo.

To recap Thursday “Orinats Yerkir” Party Board resolved to withdraw
from the country’s ruling political coalition. In addition, the “OY”
Board adopted a decision on resignation of “OY” Leader, Parliamentary
Speaker Arthur Baghdasaryan from his post. Arthur Baghdasaryan intends
to made public the party’s decision today at 2:00 PM. Sources close to
the party report that approximately an hour before the party meeting
yesterday, A. Baghdasaryan met with President Robert Kocharyan and
then convened immediate meeting of the party Board.

Vazgen Manukyan sees nothing surprising in the withdrawal of the party
as it was repeatedly stating about its inability to control over the
situation in the country and was coming against the course taken by
the coalition. “However, the party has been shaken and split, which
was unnatural,” V. Manukyan says. Withdrawing from the coalition, the
party will automatically become an opposition, but if it will join the
opposition or will act independently will become known over time, he
believes. As regards the probable nominees to the post of the speaker,
V. Manukyan says: “We shall not participate in these games. There
are no elections in Armenia. There is no parliament. There is only a
Plenum of the Central Committee that resolves who will take the post
of the speaker.”