Armenian leader reacts “calmly” to speaker’s resignation, spokesman says

Mediamax news agency
12 May 06

Yerevan, 12 May: The Armenian president’s press secretary, Viktor
Sogomonyan, today said that “the head of the state has reacted calmly
to the Law-Governed Country Party’s departure from the ruling
coalition, as well as to the resignation of the speaker of the
Armenian National Assembly.”

Commenting on the president’s attitude to the latest developments over
the Law-Governed Country Party and its leader Artur Bagdasaryan,
Sogomonyan said that “the changes in the composition of the coalition
are an everyday occurrence in any civilized country”.

“In this case nothing extraordinary has happened, especially, if we
take into account the fact that there have been certain disagreements
among members of the coalition, which should have been exacerbated
during the pre-election period. We have been witnessing this over the
last few months,” Sogomonyan said.

Sogomonyan said with certainty that the recent developments “will not
cause a political crisis in the country”.

“The ‘divorce’ was carried out in an open and civilized manner. The
Armenian Republican Party and Armenian Revolutionary
Federation-Dashnaktsutyun will continue to work within the framework
of the political memorandum. The government and the Armenian National
Assembly will continue to work as normal,” Sogomonyan said.