"REPUBLICAN PARTY IS LABOR UNION OF OFFICIALS"

Lragir, Armenia
Dec 26 2006

The establishment of the Bargavach Hayastan Party before the
parliamentary election in 2007 is regular, like the establishment
of the Orinats Yerkir Party before 1998 and the United Labor Party
and other political parties before 2003 was regular. The political
scientist Alexander Iskandaryan expressed this point of view on
December 26 at the Friday Club, saying that in Armenia the political
parties are set up to pursue the interests of some elite rather than
for social reasons. The political scientist says this is typical of
all the world, simply party building is younger in Armenia compared
with other countries.

Alexander Iskandaryan thinks that the newly established political
parties are meant to solve the problem of guarantees of different
groups in different political stages. In this connection, 2007
is peculiar, the political scientist thinks, because it precedes
the presidential election in 2008. And since the president must
be replaced, different representatives of the elite want to have
guarantees in the economic and political spheres under the new
president choosing to establish a political party as a mechanism.

Alexander Iskandaryan agrees that disagreement inside the ruling elite,
namely between the Bargavach Hayastan Party and the Republican Party
is possible. The political scientist thinks it is logical but points
to a nuance. According to him, the disagreement is not between the
Bargavach Hayastan and the Republican Party but different groups inside
the government. The Republican Party is a "labor union of officials",
Alexander Iskandaryan says, where groups with different interests
are opposed to not only the Bargavach Hayastan Party but also to one
another. Alexander Iskandaryan also considers the controversy between
the president and the defense minister as logical, explaining it by
the variety of the same interests. In Armenia the president is not
one person but about 10-12 people who make up this institution and
have different interests, says the political scientist. The clash of
interests in this pyramid of power underlies the political process
in Armenia.