Interfax - Russia & CIS General Newswire
October 4, 2018 Thursday 6:06 PM MSK


Armenian party Dashnaktsutyun accuses PM of attempt to establish
political monopoly

YEREVAN. Oct 4

The Dashnaktsutyun party, which holds seven seats in the National
Assembly, the Armenian parliament, has spoken in support of a bill
amending the parliament's rules of procedure and says the attempts to
disrupt competitive elections and to establish a political monopoly by
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the pretext of "a counterrevolution
threat" are unacceptable, the party said in a statement on Thursday.

"The draft amendments to the law on the National Assembly's rules of
procedure supported by the Dashnaktsutyun faction, which were used to
score points, were not aimed at disrupting the negotiating process
around early elections. On the contrary, they were designed to
guarantee that the parliament will be dissolved only through the law
and in a constitutional way. The need to hold early parliamentary
elections within a year is clearly stipulated in the government's
program and hasn't been disputed," Dashnaktsutyun said.

"It should be taken into consideration that holding early
parliamentary elections has implied from the start that clear steps
and actions would be taken to reform the Electoral Code and the entire
electoral system in order to hold truly free, just, transparent, and
democratic elections," it said.

"It is much more important to ensure the proper quality of elections,
form a proper political and moral-psychological atmosphere, and create
the legal and organizational preconditions for that," Dashnaktsutyun
said.

"The desire to hold elections as soon as possible jeopardizes the
organization of competitive elections and provides favorable
conditions for the ruling political force," it said.

"We see the attempt to disrupt the agenda for holding early elections
based on a common and clear-cut roadmap on the pretext of the threat
of counterrevolution as unacceptable and are firmly convinced that
political processes pursued through coercion and threats cannot lead
the country down the right path," Dashnaktsutyun said.

Violence or threats to use violence against the National Assembly and
its members, which would essentially do away with the immunity
guaranteed by the Constitution, are aimed at disrupting the normal
election process, the party said.

"We are convinced that mendacious accusations about worsening the
situation, violating agreements, and conspiracies are attempts to
divert the people's attention from creating preconditions for free and
competitive elections. We have to acknowledge that we're simply
dealing with a new attempt to establish a political monopoly under the
guise of democracy in Armenia," Dashnaktsutyun said.

"There can be no return to the past; in order to guarantee the present
and the future, past mistakes must not be replayed. We are convinced
that there is still a chance for dialogue, and a consolidation of
political forces can help us find the right way to resolve the
situation," he said.

Prime Minister Pashinyan said at the National Assembly on October 3
that early parliamentary elections should be held in December. The
leaders of the Republican Party's, Prosperous Armenia's, and
Dashnaktsutyun's parliamentary factions had earlier objected to the
prime minister's proposal and said that if elections were scheduled
for May 2019, they would agree not to nominate candidates for the post
of prime minister.

The 105-seat Armenian parliament is currently comprised of four factions.

The Republican Party controls 50 mandates.

The Tsarukyan faction, which is led by a major Armenian businessman,
Gagik Tsarukyan, holds 31 mandates.

The Dashnaktsutyun faction comprises seven lawmakers, and the Yelk
faction nine. The Yelk faction is comprised of three parties,
including Civil Contract, which Pashinyan leads.

Eight other parliamentarians, who left the Republican Party's faction
after the change of government in Armenia, do not belong to any
faction.

Some leading Republican Party members said earlier that they did not
see the holding of early parliamentary elections as an urgent
necessity but were open to discussion.

President Armen Sarkissian said on Wednesday he would initiate
consultations with Prime Minister Pashinyan and parliamentary speaker
Ara Babloyan regarding the bill on the National Assembly's rules of
procedure passed by the parliament to complicate its dissolution and
the calling of early parliamentary elections.

Pashinyan said earlier that he had met with Babloyan and
representatives of the Republican Party, Prosperous Armenia and
Dashnaktsutyun and would resign within the next few days.

Pashinyan said also that it had been agreed at a meeting with the
speaker and members of the parties that they would not nominate
candidates for prime minister, as this could provoke a new crisis.

Republican Party press secretary Eduard Sharmazanov said no final
decision had been made on the dates of early parliamentary elections
and the nomination of a candidate for prime minister.

Speaking at a rally in Yerevan on October 2, Pashinyan said the
Republican Party led by former President Serzh Sargsyan had gone over
to the counterrevolution and called for "eradicating" it from the
Armenian political landscape.

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