Opposition vs. opposition
Yerkir
July 22, 2005
During each year, political forces announce there would be a hot
political spring or summer. Usually, after such announcements, the
authorities become concerned over the opposition’s intention to carry
out a regime change.
This summer, however, the authorities can breathe easily, since the
political developments indicated the fight today is not between the
authorities and the opposition but among the opposition parties.
Mutual criticism inside the Ardarutiun (Justice) alliance over the
constitutional amendments indicates that political views and
approaches in this multi-party alliance are getting increasingly
diverse. Months ago, the opposition members were united when stating
that the constitutional amendments could be the basis for a regime
change.
But now there is no united view inside the alliance whether its
parties should vote for or against the amendments. Each of the two
major parties that comprise the alliance — Armenian People’s Party
(APP) and the Hanrapetutiun (Republic) — claim the alliance was
solely formed based on their parties so only they can decide where the
alliance should go.
On July 19, the Hanrapetutiun Political Council released a statement
saying the party would vote “no” to the proposed constitutional
amendments. The statement claimed that the amendments are going to
fail and hence “the authorities are trying to engage the opposition in
the process to avoid a failure and create an illusion of cooperation.”
In contrast, Shavarsh Kocharian, who represents the National
Democratic Party in the Ardarutiun, and who has studied the draft
amendments more closely — something that cannot be said for the
Harapetutiun representatives — believes that if the opposition fails
to show its constructive approach now, the authorities would depict
the opposition as gray mass before the international community. There
is a great opportunity for Armenia to step out of this crisis,
Shavarsh Kocharian said during a recent interview.
However, it is quite obvious that concession is not an option for the
Hanrapetutiun. Gegham Harutiunian, one of the Hanrapetutiun leaders,
noted recently that his party would break away from certain opposition
leaders if the latter “try to depict the present authorities as
reformers.”