Tuesday,
Armenian Parliament Plans Electoral Reform
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia -- The Armenian parliament starts its autumn session, Yerevan,
September 9, 2019.
The pro-government majority in the National Assembly is planning wide-ranging
amendments to Armenia’s electoral legislation that could have important
implications for the next general elections.
“We started this process early on so that we are able to address
[election-related issues] one by one and in detail,” Hamazasp Danielian, the
coordinator of a parliamentary working group on electoral reform, said on
Tuesday.
Danielian, who is affiliated with the ruling My Step alliance, said that the
parliament majority specifically wants to amend the existing legal mechanism
for electing the Armenian parliament.
In the last two parliamentary elections Armenians voted not only for parties
and blocs but also individual candidates nominated by them. This electoral
system greatly helped former President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK)
win parliamentary elections held in 2017. Wealthy HHK candidates earned
themselves and their party many votes at the time through vote bribes and abuse
of their administrative resources.
The system no longer favored the HHK after last year’s “Velvet Revolution.” The
former ruling party failed to enter the current parliament as a result of the
December 2018 snap elections which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step won
by a landslide. The polls were widely recognized as democratic.
Danielian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service that despite that election triumph the
existing mechanism remains “unacceptable” to the ruling bloc. He said it also
wants to amend other provisions of the Electoral Code regulating election
campaigns, formation of election commissions and appeals against vote results.
Danielian said the working group will also review another clause that bans dual
citizens from running for the parliament. He described the ban as
“controversial.”
With the next general elections not expected before 2023, the pro-government
lawmaker indicated that the ad hoc group will not rush to propose changes in
the Electoral Code. He said its more immediate priority is to draft amendments
to an Armenian law on parties. One of the main purposes of those amendments is
to ensure greater transparency in the financial operations of Armenian parties,
added Danielian.
Kim Kardashian To Attend Global IT Forum In Armenia
• Marine Khachatrian
Armenia -- US television personality Kim Kardashian walks shortly after her
arrival in Yerevan, April 8, 2015
Kim Kardashian, the world-famous U.S. reality TV star of Armenian descent, will
participate in the upcoming World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in
Yerevan, organizers of the global forum announced on Tuesday.
The forum scheduled for October 6-9 will bring together 2,500 tech
professionals from more than 70 countries. It will be held under the aegis of
World Information Technology and Services Alliance, a worldwide consortium of
national IT associations.
The WCIT organizing committee in Armenia said Kardashian will be a “special
keynote speaker” and panelist at the forum. She will talk about “how
decentralized technologies have democratized the worlds of entertainment,
media, and journalism.”
“Kim Kardashian West is one of the most followed people on social media with
nearly 240 million followers. She is one of the most influential voices in the
world today,” the statement quoted the committee chairman, Alexander Yesayan,
as saying.
Armenia -- US reality TV star Kim Kardashian holds her daughter (C) in her arms
next to her rapper husband Kanye West (R) as they walk close to the Geghard
Monastery, April 9, 2015
Yesayan also described her as “an extraordinarily savvy and successful
businesswoman” who has “something important and interesting to say about the
world of social media entrepreneurship.” “In our opinion, a serious
conversation about this subject matter is not possible without her
participation,” he declared.
It will be Kardashian’s second trip to Armenia. The 38-year-old first visited
her ancestral homeland in April 2015 together with her husband, American rapper
Kanye West, and sister Khloe. She filmed several episodes of the reality series
“Keeping Up With The Kardashians” in Yerevan and other parts of the country.
Armenia -- Young people at the annual Digitec Expo exhibition in Yerevan,
October 6, 2018.
Armenia hopes to use the upcoming WCIT conference to showcase its burgeoning IT
industry that employs some 15,000 engineers and generates more than 6 percent
of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. The sector is dominated by local
subsidiaries of U.S. tech giants like Synopsys, Mentor Graphics and National
Instruments and a growing number of homegrown software firms.
“From all over the world IT specialists, startup owners and investors
interested in the IT sector are already showing a strong interest in Armenia’s
potential,” Armine Udumian, a spokeswoman for the WCIT organizing committee,
told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We can already say that it’s a fact.”
“We will be hosting very important figures at the conference,” Udumian said,
adding that they will raise Armenia’s international profile.
Yerevan Rules Out Azeri Role In CSTO
• Gayane Saribekian
KAZAKHSTAN -- Officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin (C), attend
a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Astana,
November 8, 2018
Armenia would not hesitate to veto Azerbaijan’s possible attempts to gain a
special status in the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization
(CSTO), a senior Armenian lawmaker said on Tuesday.
Ruben Rubinian, the pro-government chairman of the Armenian parliament
committee on foreign relations, made this clear as the National Assembly
debated the ratification of changes in the CSTO statutes agreed by the defense
bloc’s six member states: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan.
One of those changes introduces the status of a CSTO “partner” in addition to
that of an “observer,” which can be granted to other nations interested in
forging closer ties with the bloc.
Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian emphasized that such decisions can
only be made by consensus. “If at least one of the member states is against,
then that status will not be granted,” he told parliamentarians.
Arman Babajanian, a pro-Western lawmaker who left the opposition Bright Armenia
Party last week, expressed concern over Azerbaijan’s possible attempts to gain
a special status in the CSTO. He said he is worried that Yerevan would find
itself alone in opposing such a bid.
“I don’t think things will get to a point where we will be alone,” countered
Kocharian.
Rubinian also dismissed the Babajanian’s concerns. “Azerbaijan will not have
the status of an observer or partner in the CSTO because Armenia will not
ensure consensus,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”
“So I am again urging you to put aside the presumption of Armenia’s
wretchedness and impotence and to adopt the presumption of Armenia’s greatness,
sovereignty and ability to assert its interests,” added the senior member of
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step alliance.
Pashinian criticized Russia and Armenia’s membership in the CSTO when he was in
opposition to the former Armenian government. But he has repeatedly ruled out
his country’s withdrawal from this and another Russian-dominated bloc, the
Eurasian Economic Union, since coming to power in May 2018.
More Corruption Charges Brought Against Sarkisian’s Fugitive Brother
Armenia -- President Serzh Sarkisian (R) awards a medal to his brother Levon
Sarkisian, March 22, 2016.
Law-enforcement authorities have brought new and more serious corruption
accusations against a brother of former President Serzh Sarkisian who
apparently fled Armenia before being first indicted last year, it emerged on
Tuesday.
The Investigative Committee said Levon Sarkisian illegally intervened in a $250
million project to rebuild major Armenian highways in order to enrich himself
and two businessmen linked to him. It said he has been charged with bribery and
money laundering.
The charges carrying between six and twelve years in prison were leveled as
part of the Investigative Committee’s ongoing criminal inquiry into financial
abuses allegedly committed during the implementation of the so-called
North-South road project.
Last month, the law-enforcement agency filed fraud and embezzlement charges
against a top executive of a Spanish company that had been contracted by the
former Armenian government in 2012 to upgrade more than 90 kilometers of roads.
The first two reconstructed highways connecting Yerevan to the towns of Ararat
and Ashtarak were inaugurated in late 2015. The company, Corsan Corviam
Construccion, never rebuilt the remaining 40-kilometer-long road, however.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Investigative Committee claimed that
Corsan’s Armenian subcontractors were chosen not by the Spanish firm but Levon
Sarkisian. It said the latter awarded those contracts in return for kickbacks
promised by the subcontractors.
The director of one of those firms paid Sarkisian as much as half of its
anticipated profits, according to the statement. The committee did not name
names or specify the total amount of cash allegedly paid to Sarkisian.
It said that it has issued international arrest warrants for Sarkisian and the
two owners of another Armenian firm who it said colluded with the
ex-president’s brother in the “criminal scheme.”
Levon Sarkisian was already charged with “illegal enrichment” after tax
inspectors discovered in June 2018 that he and his two children hold almost $7
million in undeclared deposits in an Armenian bank.
Under Armenian law, such asset declarations are mandatory for high-ranking
state officials and their family members. This legal requirement applied to
Sarkisian because he worked as ambassador-at-large at the Armenian Foreign
Ministry until his elder brother was overthrown in the “Velvet Revolution” of
April-May 2018.
Sarkisian is thought to have left Armenia shortly before being indicted. He has
made no public statements since then. The head of Armenia’s National Security
Service (NSS), Artur Vanetsian, stated earlier this year that he now lives in
Lebanon.
Also prosecuted is Serzh Sarkisian’s second, more controversial brother,
Aleksandr. He was charged with fraud in February several months after the NSS
had his $30 million bank account frozen as part of a separate criminal inquiry.
Sarkisian, who is better known as “Sashik,” avoided arrest and was even allowed
to temporarily leave the country after agreeing to transfer the entire sum to
the state budget.
The former president has still not publicly commented on the criminal cases
against his brothers.
Press Review
“Aravot” reacts to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s calls for an end to the
more than yearlong blockade of the roads leading to Armenia’s Amulsar gold
deposit. Pashinian argued, among other things, that a unilateral government
decision to revoke the Lydian International company’s mining license would be
fraught with political, economic and reputational risks for Armenia. “One may
certainly disagree with these points made by the prime minister but they must
be taken seriously given the fact that for Pashinian the support of the
majority of citizens is so dear and important that there have to be weighty
reasons for him to make statements to the detriment of his popularity,”
editorializes the paper. “The country’s leader is now undoubtedly faced with a
tough choice. The only sensible step he could probably take is … to give
citizens more detailed explanations as to what reputational risks threaten our
country.”
“Hraparak” singles out Pashinian’s argument that a ban on the Amulsar project
would leave his government under pressure to explain why it is allowing
continued operations of other mining companies in Armenia that use less
advanced technology and equipment. “This is where we could have a big
international problem if it turns out that we are taking a discriminatory
approach [against Lydian,]” warned Pashinian. The paper says that this is a
“convincing argument at first glance.” “Indeed, why has the Amulsar mine has
been closed and caused the economy huge damage for the past year if the
government has much more serious environmental concerns about the Teghut and
Zangezur mines?” it writes in an editorial.
“Isn’t this an acknowledgment of [Lydian’s] discriminatory treatment?”
continues “Hraparak.” “These are the kind of questions which should have been
raised immediately after the start of the Amulsar blockade, rather than one
year later, after Lydian has claimed to have been discriminated against.
Secondly, Pashinian’s second question remains unanswered: do the other mines
comply with [environmental] standards and Armenia’s laws?”
“Zhamanak” quotes George Kent, a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, as
telling the Voice of America that the United States wants Armenia to be
successful and prosperous and that the latter has a chance to become such a
country after last year’s “Velvet Revolution.” The paper says Kent’s remarks
come ahead of Pashinian’s upcoming visit to the U.S. It claims that although
Pashinian is not scheduled to meet with any top U.S. officials his trip is
“primarily perceived in the context of the U.S.-Armenian relationship and
agenda.”
(Sargis Harutyunyan)
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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