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DASHNAKS RADICALIZE
by Susanna Petrosyan
Vestnik Kavkaza
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/29046.html
July 17 2012
Russia
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun has held
its traditional closed-door meeting in the Lori Region of Armenian.
Delegates from Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, Iran, France, Lebanon and
the US arrived to discuss Armenia's internal problems. They decided
that the current authorities had failed in economic policy: emigration,
unemployment, poverty and foreign debt had increased. This may become
a disaster for the country.
The supreme authorities of the ARF had two more members appointed,
making a total of 11 at the assembly. Dashnaks say that it is a
result of serious and organized work for the upcoming elections to
local autonomies, the Yerevan Council of Elders and the upcoming
presidential polls of February 2013. The party has not passed a final
decision on the format of the presidential polls. It will be made at
a special session after discussions with other opposition forces.
The party is more interested in presenting its own candidate for the
presidential polls, because this is the only way to realize the party's
programs. According to the party's authorities, taking part in the
presidential polls as an independent force is not a goal in itself,
there may be a single opposition candidate. Dashnaks believe that
consent on topical issues should be the primary objective, only then
should candidates of separate forces be considered. A candidate's
personality is of secondary importance. The most significant part
is for the candidate to announce a ban on the current presidential
system that strengthens political, economic and other monopolies and
switch to a parliamentary system allowing decentralization of power
and implementation of modern technologies of checks and balances. The
second idea is to strengthen levers that control and counterbalance
the government.
The ARF assembly set a transition towards a more radical attitude.
Dashnaks demand a switch of government and express readiness to
achieve this goal as fast as possible.
Dashnaktsutyun has never put forward such harsh demands since 1998.
The biggest demands it had during the previous parliament were the
resignation of the foreign minister and the prime minister. Such a
toughening of its position could have been provoked by the negative
socio-economic situation in the country, which inspires no diversity
of colours on the internal political field. The only two colours
fixed are black and white.
In this situation, steps towards a harsher course of policy play a
positive role in the political prospects of the ARF. This is a good
moment to consider the results of the latest parliamentary polls of
this political force. Despite the fact that the ARF had 16 seats at
the parliament of the previous calling and has only 5 seats today,
the parliamentary polls of May 6 improved its rating. The ARF left
the ruling coalition two years ago, because it was recognized as an
opposition party by society. The ARF's position on some of the key
internal and foreign political issues and economic affairs brought the
party an image of a true opposition faction in the eyes of Armenian
society, which is a much greater achievement than having 11 additional
parliamentary seats.
Regarding the format of the ARF's role in the presidential polls,
the party has been presenting its own candidates for the last 22
years, such as in 1991 and 2008 (Sos Sargsyan and Vagan Oganesyan
respectively), and supporting other candidates. For example, former
President Robert Kocharyan was twice a candidate of the ARF in 1998
and 2003. The ARF supported a single opposition candidate in 1996,
the chairman of the National Democratic Union Party, Vazgen Manukyan.
Some analysts believe that the ARF will introduce its own candidate
for the presidential polls of 2013, because there is no candidate
in the political arena to suit the demands of the ARF. But the ARF
will no doubt support an opposition candidate in the second round
of voting. So far, the ARF is its taking time, because processes
of preparations for the presidential polls will obviously start in
the summer and forecasts about the nature of these processes would
be too hasty. A clearer image of the internal political processes
should only be expected in autumn.
by Susanna Petrosyan
Vestnik Kavkaza
http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/29046.html
July 17 2012
Russia
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun has held
its traditional closed-door meeting in the Lori Region of Armenian.
Delegates from Nagorno-Karabakh, Georgia, Iran, France, Lebanon and
the US arrived to discuss Armenia's internal problems. They decided
that the current authorities had failed in economic policy: emigration,
unemployment, poverty and foreign debt had increased. This may become
a disaster for the country.
The supreme authorities of the ARF had two more members appointed,
making a total of 11 at the assembly. Dashnaks say that it is a
result of serious and organized work for the upcoming elections to
local autonomies, the Yerevan Council of Elders and the upcoming
presidential polls of February 2013. The party has not passed a final
decision on the format of the presidential polls. It will be made at
a special session after discussions with other opposition forces.
The party is more interested in presenting its own candidate for the
presidential polls, because this is the only way to realize the party's
programs. According to the party's authorities, taking part in the
presidential polls as an independent force is not a goal in itself,
there may be a single opposition candidate. Dashnaks believe that
consent on topical issues should be the primary objective, only then
should candidates of separate forces be considered. A candidate's
personality is of secondary importance. The most significant part
is for the candidate to announce a ban on the current presidential
system that strengthens political, economic and other monopolies and
switch to a parliamentary system allowing decentralization of power
and implementation of modern technologies of checks and balances. The
second idea is to strengthen levers that control and counterbalance
the government.
The ARF assembly set a transition towards a more radical attitude.
Dashnaks demand a switch of government and express readiness to
achieve this goal as fast as possible.
Dashnaktsutyun has never put forward such harsh demands since 1998.
The biggest demands it had during the previous parliament were the
resignation of the foreign minister and the prime minister. Such a
toughening of its position could have been provoked by the negative
socio-economic situation in the country, which inspires no diversity
of colours on the internal political field. The only two colours
fixed are black and white.
In this situation, steps towards a harsher course of policy play a
positive role in the political prospects of the ARF. This is a good
moment to consider the results of the latest parliamentary polls of
this political force. Despite the fact that the ARF had 16 seats at
the parliament of the previous calling and has only 5 seats today,
the parliamentary polls of May 6 improved its rating. The ARF left
the ruling coalition two years ago, because it was recognized as an
opposition party by society. The ARF's position on some of the key
internal and foreign political issues and economic affairs brought the
party an image of a true opposition faction in the eyes of Armenian
society, which is a much greater achievement than having 11 additional
parliamentary seats.
Regarding the format of the ARF's role in the presidential polls,
the party has been presenting its own candidates for the last 22
years, such as in 1991 and 2008 (Sos Sargsyan and Vagan Oganesyan
respectively), and supporting other candidates. For example, former
President Robert Kocharyan was twice a candidate of the ARF in 1998
and 2003. The ARF supported a single opposition candidate in 1996,
the chairman of the National Democratic Union Party, Vazgen Manukyan.
Some analysts believe that the ARF will introduce its own candidate
for the presidential polls of 2013, because there is no candidate
in the political arena to suit the demands of the ARF. But the ARF
will no doubt support an opposition candidate in the second round
of voting. So far, the ARF is its taking time, because processes
of preparations for the presidential polls will obviously start in
the summer and forecasts about the nature of these processes would
be too hasty. A clearer image of the internal political processes
should only be expected in autumn.