Monday,
Pashinian Bloc Officially Declared Winner Of Yerevan Election
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (L) and his My Step bloc's mayoral
candidate Hayk Marutian attend an election campaign rally in Yerevan, 20
September 2018.
Armenia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) on Sunday formally certified the
landslide victory of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance in the
September 23 municipal elections in Yerevan.
According to the final election results, My Step won about 80 percent of the
vote and will control 57 of the 65 seats in the city council.
Under Armenian law, this also means that the bloc’s top election candidate,
Hayk Marutian, was automatically elected Yerevan’s new mayor. He will be sworn
in on October 10.
Businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK), which came in a
distant second with just 7 percent, will have 5 council seats. The remaining 3
seats were given to the Luys alliance.
Both the BHK and Luys are part of Pashinian’s de facto coalition government.
Nine other parties and blocs also took part in the elections. They all got less
than 2 percent of the vote. Voter turnout stood about 44 percent, according to
the CEC.
Armenia - Local election campaign posters in Yerevan, 23 September 2018.
In sharp contrast to just about every major Armenian election held in the past,
the Yerevan polls were not marred by reports of serious fraud. And virtually
all contenders accepted their official results.
The CEC chairman, Tigran Mukuchian, said the commission has received no demands
to fully or partly invalidate the vote results from any of the 12 parties and
blocs. They have alleged no serious irregularities, he said. Nor have they
filed any election-related lawsuits, added Mukuchian.
Pashinian actively participated in the election campaign, portraying the
mayoral race as a referendum on confidence in his government. Citing his bloc’s
landslide victory, the popular premier said on September 24 that he now has a
fresh mandate to push for snap general elections in the country. Such a vote is
seen as vital for his political future.
Marutian, the incoming Yerevan mayor, is a 41-year-old actor famous for his
performances in popular comedy shows aired by Armenian TV channels. He has also
produced his own shows and films in the past several years.
Better known as “Kargin Hayko,” Marutian actively participated in Pashinian-led
mass protests in April and May that brought down Armenia’s former government.
Armenian, Azeri Leaders Positive On First Talks
Tajikistan - Leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States meet in
Dushanbe, 28 September , 2018.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev
seem to have been satisfied with their first conversation on the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that took place in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe on
Friday.
The two men spoke with each other during a summit of the Commonwealth of
Independent States, a loose grouping of a dozen former Soviet republics.
Pashinian said later on Friday that they agreed to stop ceasefire violations in
the conflict zone which have again been on the rise lately.“In essence, we can
say that there is an agreement to take measures to prevent violations of the
ceasefire regime along the entire Armenia-Azerbaijan and Karabakh-Azerbaijan
lines of contact,” he said in a video message aired through Facebook.
For that purpose, Pashinian went on, he and Aliyev agreed in principle to open
a direct Armenian-Azerbaijani “communication line.” He cautioned, though, that
the two sides need to work out practical modalities of such a channel.
Aliyev’s top foreign policy aide, Hikmet Hajiyev, said nothing about these
understandings when he commented on the Dushanbe contact on Monday.Instead, he
repeated the official Azerbaijani line that the continuing Armenian “occupation
of Azerbaijani lands” is the main cause of recurrent armed incidents.
In an interview with the Trend news agency, Hajiyev also said the conversation
showed that Azerbaijan and Armenia, rather than Karabakh’s ethnic Armenian
representatives, remain the main negotiating parties in the conflict. He noted
in that regard that the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers met in New
York on September 26.
“We assess that positively,” added the Azerbaijani official.
Since taking office in May, Pashinian has repeatedly called on Azerbaijan to
talk directly to Karabakh Armenian leaders. He has said that he has no mandate
to “negotiate on behalf of the Karabakh people.”
Baku has denounced those statements, ruling out any direct talks with the
Karabakh Armenians.
Neither Pashinian nor the Aliyev aide mentioned the possibility of holding an
Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in the weeks or months ahead.
Pashinian and Aliyev were first introduced to each other by Russian President
Vladimir Putin when they attended in June the opening ceremony of the 2018
football World Cup hosted by Russia. They have held no formal negotiations yet.
The U.S., Russian and French mediators co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group issued
on Thursday a joint statement on the New York talks between the Armenian and
Azerbaijani foreign ministers. They said the ministers “confirmed the
importance of taking measures to intensify the negotiation process and to take
additional steps to reduce tensions.”
Charles Aznavour Dies Aged 94
Russia - French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour at a press conference in
Moscow, 2 October 2014.
Charles Aznavour, the world-famous French singer of Armenian descent, died on
Monday at the age of 94.
Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian was quick to pay tribute to “one of
the greatest sons of the Armenian people.”
Aznavour, who reportedly passed away at one of his homes in the southeast of
France, was born Shahnour Varinag Aznavourian in Paris to Armenian parents. His
father was a singer who also worked as a cook and restaurant manager, and his
mother was an actress.
Described by some as a French Frank Sinatra, Aznavour sold more than 100
million records in 80 countries, among them “She” and “Formidable.” He sang not
only in French but also in Spanish, English, Italian and German.
Aznavour was also one of the most renowned members of France’s influential
Armenian community. He was at the forefront of the community’s efforts to help
victims of a catastrophic earthquake that devastated much of northern Armenia
in 1988.
The crooner regularly visited the country in the following decades. A square in
downtown Yerevan was named after him in 2001.
In 2004, Aznavour received Armenia’s highest state award, the title of National
Hero, in recognition of his support for his ancestral homeland. Then President
Robert Kocharian praised him for “presenting Armenia to the world.”
Kocharian’s successor, Serzh Sarkisian, granted Aznavour Armenian citizenship
in 2008. A year later Sarkisian appointed him Armenia’s ambassador to
Switzerland and international organizations headquartered in Geneva. Aznavour
played a largely symbolic and ceremonial role in that capacity.
France --- French singer of Armenian origin Charles Aznavour performs during
his concert at the Olympia hall in Paris, 16 November 1972
Pashinian aired a live video address to the nation shortly after news of
Aznavour’s death was reported by international media. “This is a really sad day
in the history of our people and our country,” he declared.
“On behalf of the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian people, I want to
express my condolences to all of us, to the people of France, and to Charles
Aznavour’s fans around the world,” said Pashinian.
“This is a great loss for Armenia and the Armenian people. This is a great loss
for France and the French people. And this is a great loss for humanity,” he
added.
“Deeply French, viscerally attached to his Armenian roots, recognized
throughout the world, Charles Aznavour will have accompanied the joys and
sorrows of three generations,” French President Emmanuel Macron said for his
part. “His masterpieces, his stamp, his unique radiance will survive him for a
long time.”
“We will share with the Armenian people the mourning of the French people,”
Macron wrote on his Twitter page.
Macron also revealed that he asked Aznavour to accompany on him on his upcoming
trip to Armenia which will host next week a summit of French-speaking nations.
He said the singer was due to perform at the summit.
A big fan of Aznavour, Macron is said to have sung many of his songs during
karaoke nights with friends when he was a student.
Pashinian Starts Talks On Snap Elections (UPDATED)
• Ruzanna Stepanian
• Sisak Gabrielian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (R) and Vahram Baghdasarian of the
Republican Party meet at a cafe in Yerevan, 1 October 2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian met with a senior representative of the former
ruling Republican Party (HHK) late on Monday to discuss his plans to force
early parliamentary elections in Armenia.
Citing his bloc’s landslide victory in the September 23 mayoral vote in
Yerevan, Pashinian moved last week to speed up the conduct of such elections
widely seen as critical for his political future. He said political uncertainty
resulting from his team’s modest presence in the current Armenian parliament is
hampering badly needed private investments in the domestic economy. The polls
may have to be held before the end of this year, he said.
Pashinian announced on Monday morning that he is starting consultations for
that purpose with political groups represented in the National Assembly. “I
hope that we will reach an agreement with political forces and there will be no
need to appeal to citizens for support,” he said in a video address to his
supporters.
The premier went on to warn: “But if there is such a need I hope that you all
will be ready to support this political process in one way or another.
Late in the evening, Pashinian met with Vahram Baghdasarian, the leader of the
HHK’s parliamentary faction, the largest in the National Assembly, at an
outdoor café in Yerevan.
“This was our first contact on the issue of pre-term parliamentary elections,”
Pashinian told reporters after the meeting. “We exchanged thoughts on the issue
and agreed to launch a negotiation process.”
“We believe that the elections should be held as soon as possible, let’s say in
two or three months,” he said, adding that the HHK remains reluctant to agree
to the parliament’s dissolution in the coming weeks or months.
“We did not sit down to make decisions,” Baghdasarian said for his part. “We
discussed future negotiations. We agreed in what format we will be meeting.”
The HHK spokesman, Eduard Sharmazanov, said earlier in the day that fresh
elections could be genuinely free and fair only after the continuing
“post-revolutionary euphoria” in the country is over.
Sharmazanov also argued that Pashinian’s government has still not come up with
promised draft amendments to the Armenian Electoral Code. “Where is the
[amendments to the] Electoral Code? It hasn’t even reached the National
Assembly,” he said.
The government’s policy program approved by lawmakers in June calls for the
holding of snap general elections within a year, after “substantial reforms of
the Electoral Code and the electoral system.”
Gevorg Petrosian, a senior lawmaker from Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia
Party (BHK), emphasized this fact when he spoke out against an “artificially
early conduct of the elections.” He also challenged Pashinian to name those
investors who are purportedly unwilling to do business in Armenia before such
polls.
More importantly, Petrosian criticized Pashinian’s implicit threats to stage
street protests aimed at forcing the parliament to pave the way for its
dissolution. That, he said, amounts to calling for a “violent overthrow of the
constitutional order.”
The BHK strongly supported Pashinian when he similarly pressured the parliament
to elect him prime minister in May. Tsarukian’s party, which controls the
second largest parliamentary faction, subsequently received five ministerial
posts in Pashinian’s cabinet. Its relationship with the premier has cooled in
recent weeks.
Vahe Enfiajian, another senior BHK figure, said although his party has not yet
been approached by Pashinian it is ready to discuss the election issue with him.
Press Review
(Saturday, September 29)
“Zhamanak” says that one of critics’ arguments is that if snap parliamentary
elections in Armenia were held now Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his
allies would win as massively as they did in the September 23 municipal
elections in Yerevan. This, they say, would leave Pashinian’s government
without strong checks and balances. The paper disagrees, saying that many
democracies around the world have a single dominant party. “The key question is
whether there is a society which would no longer put up with anyone’s
totalitarian or authoritarian rule,” it says. “The events that occurred [in
Armenia] just a few months ago showed that there is such a society here.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” says that there seems to be no genuine and credible
opposition in Armenia at the moment. The paper edited by Pashinian’s wife, Anna
Hakobian, says that Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) is “too
discredited” to take on that role. “This is little consolation,” it says. “Now
it is imperative to have opposition which is strong and, so to speak,
legitimate and real, which will fight against the government’s mistakes in an
open and substantiated manner and without any fear of losing some levers. But
no political force is keen to be in opposition.” The paper suggests says forces
other than the HHK are waiting for a major failure of Pashinian.
“Past” says that the Armenian civil society has also undergone radical changes
in the last few months. The paper points out that most of the 57 candidates of
Pashinian’s My Step bloc elected to Yerevan’s new municipal council are former
NGO or other civic activists. “Both in the city council and the government
there are many people that were involved in these spheres of public life before
the revolution … Now that the majority of the Armenian civil society is part of
the government, bears concrete political responsibility and is effectively
positioning itself as politicians the civic sector has a chance to rethink its
activities, to restructure itself from scratch and, most importantly, to return
to its lost and forgotten roots and its spontaneous and self-sufficient
essence,” it says.
(Artur Papian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2018 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org