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Too "Busy": Tycoon'S "Conspicuous Absence" From Parliament Chamber C

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  • Too "Busy": Tycoon'S "Conspicuous Absence" From Parliament Chamber C

    TOO "BUSY": TYCOON'S "CONSPICUOUS ABSENCE" FROM PARLIAMENT CHAMBER CONSTRUED BY SOME AS POLITICAL MESSAGE
    By Siranuysh Gevorgyan

    ArmeniaNow
    01.06.12 | 12:02

    As Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader Gagik Tsarukyan was
    conspicuously absent from the first session of the new National
    Assembly on May 31, members of his political team hurried to give
    assurances that the heavyweight politician wasn't boycotting, but
    was simply unable to attend due to being "overly busy" with his work.

    "But rest assured that later Tsarukyan will attend the sessions
    by all means," PAP faction secretary Naira Zohrabyan explained to
    RFE/RL's Armenian Service in parliament, adding that the previous
    night Tsarukyan was giving them a spirited pep talk, wishing them
    fruitful work and urging them to be active and "join all initiatives
    that meet people's interests regardless of what political power
    presents these initiatives."

    Still, the absence of Tsarukyan, a millionaire businessman whose
    party won the second largest presence in the National Assembly as
    a result of the May 6 vote, looked noticeable against the backdrop
    of the high presence of President Serzh Sargsyan, Catholicos of
    All Armenians Karekin II, all members of the government in which
    Tsarukyan's party had four ministers in the past several years. The
    PAP no longer holds ministerial portfolios after refusing to join
    President Sargsyan's majority Republican Party and Orinats Yerkir in
    forming a new ruling coalition.

    Meanwhile, former foreign minister Vartan Oskanian, who joined the PAP
    in February and conducted a parliamentary campaign on a platform highly
    critical of the current administration, advised that media should not
    look for "something" in Tsarukyan's absence from the first parliament
    meeting, saying, "It wasn't convenient for him, so he didn't come."

    Still, considering the fact that Tsarukyan is the head of the PAP
    faction and at least formally being a lawmaker should be his primary
    occupation, as well as the high solemnity and status of the first
    gathering of the parliament, some media construed Tsarukyan's absence
    as a kind of message addressed to the Republicans, a message that
    does not appear to have been deciphered just yet.

    Simultaneously, the first session of the new National Assembly was
    not attended by the seven lawmakers representing the opposition
    Armenian National Congress (ANC) and five members of the opposition
    Heritage faction. Members of these political forces did not attend the
    ceremony of picking mandates held at the Central Election Commission
    the previous day either.

    In a statement the ANC explained its boycott of the first session,
    saying that the majority of the lawmakers attending it "are not
    elected by the people of Armenia, but got their mandates illegally,
    through widespread vote buying, intimidation of voters, large-scale
    repeated ballot schemes."

    The same day, May 31, the Constitutional Court of Armenia upheld the
    official results announced by the election body, rejecting the ANC's
    lawsuit that demanded the invalidation of the elections.

    Talking about these latest "demarches" by the political forces,
    analyst Yervand Bozoyan says that, for example, by not appearing in
    parliament on the first day of its work Tsarukyan in fact meant to
    show that he wasn't satisfied with how the elections went on.

    "The ANC, for example, applied to the Constitutional Court to challenge
    the election results. Heritage stated that it did not accept the
    results of the elections, the PAP, while not making any assessments,
    still decided not to join the coalition. So, each political force,
    besides Orinats Yerkir and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation,
    is trying to show its displeasure in its own way. And I think
    that Tsarukyan's absence exactly highlights this circumstance,"
    said Bozoyan.

    Political analyst Manvel Sargsyan, meanwhile, said he was baffled at
    such behavior of the PAP leader.

    "So far opinions have repeatedly been voiced that the PAP owes
    explanations to society, as for two weeks after the elections there
    were negotiations with the authorities and it was not clear what
    they were all about... his position is a bit unclear as in reality
    they do not behave independently, we know that yesterday all of them
    [PAP faction members] voted in favor of [Republican] Hovik Abrahamyan
    [to become parliament speaker]. So, Tsarukyan's behavior is unclear
    to me," said Sargsyan.



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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