NEW SITUATION BEFORE 2007

Lragir.am
23 June 06

Surprisingly, the opposition does not criticize the changes to the
Electoral Code and even signed to it, said Member of Parliament
Shavarsh Kocharyan on June 23, who met with news reporters at the
Pastark Club. According to the member of parliament, this behavior of
the opposition is caused by its paralyzed state which is the cause of
their wrong approach towards the constitutional referendum. "I think it
is determined by a stage, which has not been overcome yet. It is the
paralyzed state that results from wrong behavior, wrong approaches,
the constitutional referendum," says Shavarsh Kocharyan. According
to him, the opposition was surprisingly against the constitutional
reform, which was definitely in their interests, but agreed to the
draft Electoral Code, which is against its interests. "In other words,
they go to extremes," says Shavarsh Kocharyan. But he is hopeful
that this state of the opposition will not last long, at least it
will not last untill 2007. "A quite new situation has occurred in
Armenia," thinks Shavarsh Kocharyan, believing that all the forces
will sooner of later realize the new situation. Shavarsh Kocharyan
thinks that the government realized the new situation the first, hence
the political shake-up inside the government. And the opposition,
according to Shavarsh Kocharyan, both is there and is not there. He
evaluates the state of Ardarutiun Alliance similarly. By the way,
it is interesting that Shavarsh Kocharyan is in the same alliance. It
is true that inside the alliance Shavarsh Kocharyan is not considered
opposition any longer, but Kocharyan thinks, nevertheless, that he
and his party are opposition. The opposition is the political force
which gives a more real evaluation of the situation, has a more clear
vision of solutions, says Shavarsh Kocharyan, adding that he does not
think they become opposition by declaring the time of the revolution.
Nevertheless, the leader of the National Democratic Party is guided
by the principle "every cloud has a silver lining." Shavarsh Kocharyan
thinks that the present state of the opposition will help realize and
fulfill the necessity of ideological alliances in the opposition. And
since there is not such a perception yet, Shavarsh Kocharyan is likely
to run in the election alone.