NO COALITION IN ARMENIA AS RULING PARTY GETS MAJORITY OF VOTES

ITAR-TASS, Russia
May 17 2007

YEREVAN, May 17 (Itar-Tass) – There will be no coalition in Armenia
as the ruling Republican Party of Armenia has got the majority in
parliament, the head of the party’s parliamentary faction, Galust
Saakyan, said on Thursday.

According to preliminary results of the parliamentary election last
Saturday, this right-of-centre party has got about 65 of 131 mandates
in the National Assembly. The remaining seats were distributed mainly
among four other parties.

"The memorandum on a coalition will not be signed," Saakyan said,
stressing that it is not the signing of the document that is important,
but the principle of cooperation of political forces.

He said the Republican Party intends to cooperate with all
parliamentary and extraparliamentary forces, particularly with those
that were close to overcoming the five-percent barrier at the election.

Meanwhile, Armenian president’s adviser Garnik Isagulyan reported on
Thursday that extraparliamentary forces and certain political activists
of the country would participate in the formation of the government.

This will let the country have the government "where different
political forces will be represented".