Monday,
Pashinian’s Party Wins, Loses Local Elections
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and acting Mayor Diana Gasparian (L)
attend a festival in Echmiadzin, 7 October 2018.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party won mayoral elections in
at least two major Armenian towns but was defeated in another at the weekend.
Voters in nearly 50 communities across Armenia went to the polls on Sunday to
elect their chief executives or local councils. As was the case in the
September 23 municipal elections in Yerevan, the polls were marked by a lack of
serious fraud reported by election candidates, observers and media.
In the largest of those communities -- the towns of Armavir, Echmiadzin,
Hrazdan and Kapan -- the elections were held because their former mayors
resigned shortly after Pashinian swept to power in May in what is known as a
democratic “velvet revolution.” They were affiliated or linked with former
President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK).
In Echmiadzin, official vote results gave victory to Civil Contract’s Diana
Gasparian, the acting mayor appointed by Pashinian’s government in June.
Gasparian, 30, was challenged by 11 other contenders. She is the first female
head of an Armenian urban community elected since the early 1990s.
Another Civil Contract candidate, Davit Khudatian, prevailed in the mayoral
race in Armavir. The town located about 50 kilometers west of Yerevan is the
administrative center of the Armavir province encompassing Echmiadzin.
The snap election in another provincial capital, Hrazdan, was won by a
25-year-old son of Sasun Mikaelian, a prominent Hrazdan-based politician and a
leading member of Civil Contract. The party leadership pointedly declined to
back Sevak Mikaelian for still unclear reasons, however.
Pashinian’s party suffered a setback in Kapan, the capital of the southeastern
Syunik province bordering Iran. Its candidate, Narek Babayan, was defeated by a
non-partisan challenger.
Pashinian personally campaigned for Babayan, holding a rally in Kapan on Friday.
The Armenian prime minister put a brave face on the setback on Monday. While
saying that he is “very sorry” for Babayan’s defeat, he portrayed the election
outcome as a triumph of democracy.
“It’s an unprecedented phenomenon [for Armenia] when the country’s prime
minister backs a candidate and that candidate doesn’t win an election. This is
the greatest victory for democracy in the history of the Third [Armenian]
Republic,” Pashinian declared in a trademark video address to the nation aired
on Facebook.
“Citizens made a decision and the government didn’t even attempt to place the
citizens’ choice into the bounds of its wishes. Dear people, this is what we
did the revolution for,” he said.
The former ruling HHK had for years swept most local elections in Armenia,
heavily relying on its administrative and financial resources. Sarkisian’s
party has essentially refrained from contesting such polls since losing power.
According to Pashinian, Civil Contract nominated or endorsed candidates in 15
communities and only two of them lost in Sunday’s elections.
Armenian Parliament Fails To Pass Key Election Bill
• Sisak Gabrielian
Armenia - The National Assembly debates amendments to the Electoral Code
drafted by the government, Yerevan, .
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused Armenia’s outgoing parliament of
“sabotage” on Monday after it voted down major amendments to the Electoral Code
drafted by his government for snap general elections expected in December.
The amendments formally approved by the government on October 16 are aimed at
facilitating the proper conduct of the elections. They would, among other
things, change the existing legal mechanism for distributing seats in the
National Assembly which many believe favored Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party
(HHK) in the last parliamentary elections held in April 2017.
Under Armenia’s constitution, any amendment to the Electoral Code must be
backed by at least 63 members of the 105-member parliament. Only 56 lawmakers
voted for the government bill.
Pashinian was quick to accuse the parliament majority of “sabotaging” the work
of his cabinet. “They hope that in this way they will manage to turn the fresh
parliamentary elections into an instrument for revanche,” he said. “But I want
to make clear that even if the elections are held under the existing Electoral
Code that will not change anything because the victory of the people is
inevitable and cannot be stolen by anyone.”
“There will be no return to the past,” Pashinian added, urging supporters to
get ready for “completing regime change” in Armenia.
The bill was essentially blocked by the HHK, which still has the largest
parliamentary faction.
The former ruling party officially voiced its opposition to the proposed
changes in a statement released earlier in the day. It said that they were
submitted to the parliament at a very short notice and that the lawmakers
therefore did not have enough time to look into them.
The HHK also accused the government of ignoring a number of alternative
proposals that were jointly made by the four political forces represented in
the current National Assembly.
The HHK’s stance was denounced by other parliamentary forces. Naira Zohrabian,
a top representative of Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK),
called it an act of “political sabotage.”
The HHK’s deputy chairman, Armen Ashotian, remained unrepentant, however,
saying that the electoral system must not be changed less than two months
before the anticipated elections. “It is simply absurd to build democracy in
the country with undemocratic methods,” Ashotian told reporters.
In the 2017 elections, Armenians voted for not only parties and blocs as a
whole but also their individual candidates running in a dozen nationwide
constituencies. The individual races greatly helped the HHK to score a
landslide victory at the time. Wealthy HHK candidates relied heavily on their
financial resources and government connections to earn both themselves and
their party many votes.
The bill put forward by Pashinian’s government also envisages safeguards
against vote rigging and other major changes such as a lower vote threshold for
winning seats in the parliament.
Gianni Buquicchio, the president of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission,
said on Friday that the draft amendments “pursue legitimate aims and seem
mostly positive.” In a statement, he also noted “the specific situation in
Armenia, which requires the holding of early elections.”
Buquicchio said at the same time that the commission still has “reservations”
about the proposed change of the electoral system. He stressed, though, that
“these reservations are less relevant if there is consensus among political
forces about the change.”
The government is allowed to reintroduce the bill to the parliament and force
another urgent debate on it in the coming days. Pashinian did not say whether
the government will do so.
Trump Lawyer Giuliani Visits Armenia
• Sargis Harutyunyan
Armenia - Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan (R) meets with former New York Mayor
Rudy Giuliani in Yerevan, .
U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani met with Armenia’s
Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan and visited the Armenian genocide memorial in
Yerevan on Monday during what he described as a private trip to the country.
Giuliani, who served as mayor of New York City from 1994-2001, was invited by
Ara Abrahamian, a pro-Kremlin leader of the Armenian community in Russia, to
take part in an international forum in the Armenian capital organized by the
Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a Russian-led trade bloc.
Giuliani was accompanied by Abrahamian when he visited the Tsitsernakabert
memorial to pay his respects to some 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the
Ottoman Turks during the First World War.
As New York mayor, he had repeatedly issued statements recognizing the genocide
and attended commemorations of the genocide victims organized by
Armenian-American advocacy groups.
Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian service at Tsitsernakabert, Giuliani was asked
whether he believes Trump should also publicly describe the 1915 mass killings
as genocide. “I certainly recognize it,” he replied. “I think it’s a historical
fact. But I’m not here in my capacity as a private lawyer for President Trump.
I’m here as a private citizen.”
“So it’s up to the administration to make its own conclusion about that,” he
added.
Like his predecessors, Trump avoided using the word genocide in his statements
issued for the annual April 24 commemorations of genocide anniversary in the
United States. He spoke instead of “one of the worst mass atrocities of the
20th century.”
Giuliani was also careful not to comment on U.S.-Armenian relations, saying
that “it’s up to the two governments” to develop them. “Again, I’m here as a
private citizen just to learn some facts in my first time in Armenia,” he said.
“I know the Armenian community in America well but this is my first time here.”
Giuliani met with Tonoyan later in the day. A statement by the Armenian Defense
Ministry said the minister briefed him on “the security environment around
Armenia.” The two men also “exchanged views on a number of regional and
international issues,” added the statement.
Giuliani, 74, is known for his hawkish views on America’s relations with Iran,
a key neighbor of Armenia. He has strongly supported Trump’s controversial
decision to pull out of an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program and to
re-impose economic sanctions on Tehran.
Like the other world powers that signed it -- France, Germany, Britain, Russia
and China -- Armenia continues to support the 2015 deal. It has made clear that
it will press ahead with joint economic projects with the Islamic Republic.
Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, is due to arrive in Yerevan
later this week as part of a tour of Russia and the three South Caucasus states.
Press Review
(Saturday, October 20)
“Hraparak” reports that the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe gave on
Friday a cautious but mostly positive assessment of amendments to the Electoral
Code drafted by the Armenian government. The paper says the commission stated
that its reservations will not really matter if Armenian parliamentary forces
reach a consensus on the entire legislative package.
“Aravot” says that the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) will take a “risky
step” if it does decide to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
“It can be said for certain that this party would not win seats in the
parliament,” editorializes the paper. It says the HHK’s participation would
also have a negative impact on “the whole atmosphere of the election campaign.”
In that case, it says, Nikol Pashinian’s party and other all contenders would
spend most of their time lambasting the HHK and Sarkisian.
“Zhamanak” says that Pashinian will likely meet with local leaders of the
Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) during his upcoming visit to
Lebanon. The paper expects Pashinian to discuss with them their party’s
activities in Armenia.
“Business expects real work from the government,” reads a headline in “168
Zham.” “The economy has stopped because there is no economic policy and there
is no vision as to where we are headed,” writes the paper. It says that
Pashinian’s government is hampering economic growth with its “crude” tax
evasion and other crackdowns on businesspeople. “There is hardly any major
business that has not been inspected and made a subject of public vendettas for
slighter violations in the past several months. The fact is that business is
definitely not looking forward to the parliamentary elections … Business is
waiting to see when this theater will end so that it can operate in normal
conditions and develop the country.”
(Tatev Danielian)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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