Vice Speaker of the Parliament of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov doesn’t see PM candidate Nikol Pashinyan as Prime Minister.
“Like yesterday, today as well, you, Mr. Pashinyan, didn’t convince me, I don’t see you in the role of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief”, Sharmazanov said during the debate of the election of the PM in the Parliament on May 1.
Sharmazanov said today they are electing a leader of the executive who first of all should be distinguished by predictability of political steps and clear political ideology. “Being predictable means to be consistent and unchanged. If you are elected, who is going to be the first deputy prime minister, the deputy PMs, the ministers of defense, finance, the Police chief, the head of the national security service? Who? No response”, Sharmazanov said.
He recalled that several months ago Pashinyan and his faction urged the leadership to withdraw from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), but today they say a reality has changed. “When we were talking about the change of realities, you were blaming us in lie. Excuse me, this is at least not fair”, Sharmazanov said.
He added that Nikol Pashinyan didn’t present any concept on the Artsakh issue. “You didn’t present any concept on how you are going to negotiate, what will be the price of your mutual concessions, whether you are ready for mutual concessions or not, what will be the fate of the 7 liberated territories. You say you are going to increase the military budget. It’s good that you want, but how? I didn’t receive the response to this question”, the Vice Speaker said.
According to him, the most significant for politicians is the existence of ideology: he must have a concrete ideology. “I hoped to listen to a conceptual speech of the PM candidate, but I witnessed a non-program speech. We as well are concerned over the bad phenomena existing in our country. We don’t deny that corruption and injustice existed and continue existing in our country. Regardless of who will be the leadership, we must not move on through the path of ultimatums, but dialogue. My assessments are political and do not look for any personal attitude”, Sharmazanov stated.
The Vice Speaker summed up his speech with the following words: “If some people need shocks, we need a strong, united and democratic Armenia. God bless the Armenian people and every citizen of Armenia”.