ARMENIA’S CENTRAL BANK CHIEF SET TO BE NEW PM

Javno.hr
April 8 2008
Croatia

The prime minister`s job will be vacant from Wednesday when Serzh
Sarksyan, who currently holds the post, becomes the country`s
president.

Reuters photo: archive Armenia’s central bank chief looked set to
become the country’s new prime minister after the ruling coalition
voiced support for his appointment on Tuesday.

The prime minister’s job will be vacant from Wednesday when Serzh
Sarksyan, who currently holds the post, becomes president of the
ex-Soviet Christian state of 3 million on the edge of the Caucasus —
a major energy route to Europe from Asia.

Sarksyan’s Republican Party said it would back 48-year-old Tigran
Sarksyan, chairman of the central bank since 1998, for the job. The
two men are not related.

"If Tigran Sarksyan is put forward as a candidate for the post of
prime minister, I anticipate that our party will support it," party
spokesman Spartak Seyranyan said.

Under the Armenian constitution the president appoints the prime
minister after consultations with parliament. The chamber does not
hold a vote on the appointment.

The Republican party won 65 out of 131 seats in last May’s
parliamentary election. The two other parties in the ruling coalition
also indicated they would support Tigran Sarksyan for the premiership.

Serzh Sarksyan won a presidential election in February which his
opponents said he rigged. He ordered a 20-day state of emergency
on March 1 when eight protesters died in clashes with police in
the capital.

Frustration by opposition activists has grown since the Feb. 19
election — which Western monitors called flawed but enough to satisfy
Armenia’s international commitments.

The activists accused Serzh Sarksyan and outgoing President Robert
Kocharyan of running Armenia as a personal fiefdom for the last decade
and promoting their friends and family from the region of Karabakh.

Tigran Sarksyan’s neutrality — he is not from Karabakh — may have
been an important element in picking him, said political analyst
Alexander Iskandaryan of the Yereven-based Caucasus Media Institute.

"He is not part of the polarisation of politics," Iskandaryan said.

"They needed somebody who is neutral and who is also very
professional."

Eyewitnesses said opposition leaders had been targeting the
anti-Karabakh sentiment at rallies to boost its support.