PROSPEROUS ARMENIA PARTY WANTS "SERIOUS" ROLE IN GOVERNING ARMENIA
Haroutiun Khachatrian

EurasiaNet, NY
Feb 22 2007

Against a backdrop of controversy, Armenia’s Prosperous Armenia Party
is emerging as the leading challenger to the ruling Republican Party
in this May’s parliamentary elections.

At a press conference following the party’s February 15 congress,
Central Office Coordinator Vardan Vardanian declared that Prosperous
Armenia, or Bargavach Hayastan, hopes to collect sufficient votes
in the May 12 parliamentary poll to form at least the second biggest
faction in the Armenian legislature after the Republican Party. The
party’s chairman and multimillionaire businessman, Gagik Tsarukian,
went still further. "We have all the possibilities to win at the
coming parliamentary elections and get our serious share of the job
of governing the country," Tsarukian told conference delegates in
a speech.

The size of the party’s alleged membership alone — 370,000 official
members — is cause for notice. If accurate, the number means that
one out of every seven adult inhabitants of Armenia is a member of
Prosperous Armenia. Yet, even if the figure is significantly inflated,
the party would still outstrip its closet rivals.

An aggressive charity campaign run by an association that bears the
same name as the party has helped build support for Tsarukian and his
movement. Prosperous Armenia members often take active part in the
charity’s activities. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Despite considerable controversy surrounding these giveaways, the
government has not yet attempted to regulate the charity’s activities.

It would appear to have little reason to do so. The party’s goals,
as outlined at the congress, show that it is committed to the course
set by President Robert Kocharian’s administration. "The principal
idea and goal of BH [Prosperous Armenia] is to develop the obvious
economic and political successes of the past years amid popular
support," Vardanian declared to party members at the one-day event.

An official blessing, of sorts, has already been given to the party.

"There are no contradictions either inside the ruling authorities
or between the Republican Party of Armenia and Bargavach Hayastan
[Prosperous Armenia]," declared presidential spokesperson Victor
Soghmanoian in a surprising statement published by the Hayots Ashkharh
daily. "And it is natural."

President Kocharian’s chief of staff, Armen Gevorgian, along with
Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, leader of the ruling Republican
Party of Armenia, attended the conference. Commenting wryly on the
budding cooperation between the two parties, the opposition daily
Aravot argued in a February 16 editorial that a "bipartisan" system
between the Republican Party and Prosperous Armenia "means that the
ruling oligarchic system has found a mechanism of self-protection."

Given what appears to be a similarity of their policy interests,
the possibility of an alliance between Prosperous Armenia and
the Republican Party would seem likely. Leaders of the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation, or Dashnaktsutiun, another party in
Armenia’s ruling coalition, also attended the Prosperous Armenia
conference. However, Tsarukian stressed that Prosperous Armenia will
not form any alliance during this spring’s parliamentary elections.

The Republican Party, setting aside earlier criticism of Prosperous
Armenia, appears content with the decision. At a February 19
press conference, Galust Sahakian, leader of the Republican Party
parliamentary faction, commented that the issues raised by Prosperous
Armenia during its conference were "normal and logical," adding that
Prime Minister Markarian’s presence at the gathering should be seen
as an signaling his desire for free and fair elections in May, the
daily Haykakan Zhamanak reported.

Manvel Sargsian, an expert at the Kavkaz analytical center in
Yerevan, said that Kocharian intends Prosperous Armenia as a warning
to the Republican Party, which is led by Prime Minister Markarian
and Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian. A criminal case recently
brought against Republican Party parliamentarian Hakob Hakobian for
allegedly taking part in a violent brawl "was a clear warning to the
whole business community which cooperated with the RPA [Republican
Party of Armenia] during the previous elections," Sargsian said. By
contrast, he continued, Prosperous Armenia "is kept free of oligarchs
. . . and current corrupt highly ranked officials who have a very
bad reputation."

If Prosperous Armenia is to become a presence in government, it still
must overcome some obstacles. For example, relative political unknowns
— university rectors, artists, scientists, medical professionals and
current and former mid-level government officials — comprise the bulk
of the party’s 35-member political council. For now, none have emerged
as obvious candidates for high government office should the party’s
prediction of success in the parliamentary polls come true. Chairman
Tsarukian himself has made clear that he has no ambitions to serve in
the cabinet. As deputy minister of transportation and communications,
Vardanian presently holds the most prominent government position
among party members.

Editor’s Note: Haroutiun Khachatrian is a Yerevan-based writer
specializing in economic and political affairs.