Author: VK
Last week, the Armenian press has paid the main attention to May 5 elections to the Council of Elders. According to the director of the Yerevan "Caucasus" Institute Alexander Iskandaryan expressed to the newspaper "Business Express", the Republicans had a lot of assumptions to win. First of all, this is the percentage of votes received by the candidate of the Republican Party Sargsyan at the presidential election in February. Expecting that after the elections the Republican Party can get smaller percentage of votes at the election of the Mayor of Yerevan, according to Iskandaryan, would be, at least, naive.
While, according to demands of people dissatisfied with the election results, there was a recount in a number of polling stations, experts and political scientists, according to the newspaper "New Era", analyzed the reasons for the defeat of the opposition. Almost all of them agree that "Dashnaktsutiun" and the Armenian National Congress lost heavily in the political sense, due to the fact that they did not participate in the presidential race. As for the "Prosperous Armenia" party, its non-participation in the presidential race was offset by the capital resources invested in the race, which, however, still has not produced the desired result. Another reason for the failure of the opposition, according to political consultant Karen Kocharyan, is that it has once again failed to unite.
In addition, according to the "Aravot" newspaper, RPA conducted a more interesting election campaign, agitating not for party, but for Mayor Taron Margaryan, since, according to the publication, the population loves and recognizes him more than the Republican Party.
After summarizing the results of this election, the election cycle in Armenia will take a break for 4 years. “During a year”, the "Voice of Armenia" newspaper reports, “namely, since last spring, almost without a break electoral and post-electoral processes followed each other with all their attributes, such as incriminating evidence, secret negotiations, disinformation, black and white PR, and so on. ... In short, the country was fixated on the problem, which, in fact, was only a means of solving the major problems that are quite a few. The publication has expressed the hope that as the election marathon is over, and those who could be elected has already been elected (the deputies, the President, the Council of Elders and the Mayor of Yerevan), now in order to address specific issues in power, there will be enough energy, resources, and desire.
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The Georgian Times published an interview with the chairman of the party "Democratic Movement" United Georgia ", Nino Burjanadze. She said the ruling "Georgian Dream" coalition and its leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, brought positive trends to the country, but the process of justice is very slow. Talking about her meeting with Vladimir Putin after the August 2008 war, Burzhanadze suggested that the meeting at the time was a unique chance for the Saakashvili government to soften relations with Russia, but it was not used. Black PR influenced the process. The authorities have concealed from the masses the information that the Russian government for the first time in 4 years stated that between Georgia and Russia there were no longer closed topics, and negotiations on all issues were possible, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but the government did not need this. Today Burjanadze hopes that the new government will not be afraid of possible accusations of pro-Russian orientation and will make steps towards Russia being more resolute in matters relating to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as otherwise these problems will not be solved.
Answering the question of cooperation with "Georgian Dream", Burjanadze said that her organization supported Ivanishvili from the first day of his appearance on the political scene, including the parliamentary elections, when he was offered to present a united front. According to her, they sometimes opposed and criticized the "Georgian Dream", because she knows of the experience of a stay both in power and in opposition that objective criticism is more important than the position of people who like everything.
Burjanadze said that the "Democratic Movement" will participate in the presidential elections, but they will announce a candidate only after the official start of the campaign. Burjanadze does not exclude the possibility of the return to power of the United National Movement. In her opinion, it is impossible not to consider their financial and technical capabilities, supported by the West, as well as 15% of the vote they received in the midterm elections to the Parliament of Georgia.
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Last week, the Northern and Southern Caucasus celebrated Victory Day. The newspaper " Dagestani Pravda" informs on the meeting with the veterans of the Great Patriotic War, which took place on May 9 at the Rasul Gamzatov International Foundation in Makhachkala. In Dagestan, the Victory Day coincided with the 90th anniversary of the birth of the poet. According to vice-president of the foundation Gabibat Azizov, 160,000 sons and daughters of Dagestan fought for Victory Day. For bravery and feats displayed on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, 58 residents of Dagestan have been awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and seven became full holders of the Order of Glory. Some two thousand Dagestani women fought on the fronts
In Grozny on May 9 military parade was held, at which, according to the newspaper "News of the republic," the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, congratulated war veterans and all those present on the Day of Victory. He noted that this is a big celebration for the Chechen people, since the contribution to the victory was made, among others, by tens of thousands of residents of Chechnya, who went to the front and fought bravely to defend their homeland against the fascist "plague."
The "South Ossetia" newspaper reports about honoring veterans living in Tskhinvali. "Dear veterans”, President Leonid Tibilov said, “you gave peace the younger generations, and after the war you turned your energies to rebuilding the destroyed country”.
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Despite the measures taken, Baku still faces acute problem of parking spaces. According to the director of MBA Consulting Company Nusret Ibragimov given in "Echo" newspaper, Baku needs at least 600-700 thousand parking spaces for the total exemption of roadsides from vehicles. There are about a million cars in the city. The construction of parking lots is undergoing, but in the near future this problem is unlikely to be solved completely. In addition, not so much the number of parking spaces with correct and convenient location in the city is important. Parking spaces should be focused mainly in two areas of the city - in the historic district and in the central part. The main "jobs" - business centers, hotels, companies, offices and organizations, as well as sports and leisure complexes – are concentrated just in the second zone. Head of Public Relations Department of the State Traffic Police Authority of Baku Vagif Asadov told the newspaper that after the commissioning of all constructed underground parking lots in the vicinity of them parking of cars at the roadside will be banned.
