Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK
On June 15 the session of the executive body of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) took place. The session was conducted by the leader of the party, President Sargsyan. Names of candidates for the positions of ministers in the new government were defined.11 ministers, half of whom are Republicans and others do not belong to any party, will continue to work at their positions. Only the Health Minister, Minister of Labor and Social Issues, Minister of Sport and Youth Issues, Minister of Urban Development, and the Minister of Transport and Communication have been changed. The first four positions were taken by the former partner of RPA, Prosperous Armenia, and the last one – by the party Orinats Erkir. At the moment three Republicans and one non-party person took the positions.
Orinats Erkir gained the position of the Minister of Urban Development. Representatives of this party, the Emergency Minister, Armen Yeritsyan, and the Agriculture Minister, Sergo Karapetyan, will continue to work in the government.
On May 30 the ruling RPA signed the coalition memorandum with the party Orinats Erkir. The sides of the political coalition agreed to provide the common program of activity of the government.
According to the constitution of the country, 10 days after the first session of the parliament which took place on May 31st President appointed the prime minister. The current prime minister, Tigran Sarkisyan, remained in his position. He has headed the government since 2008. Sarkisyan has stated that the main attention would be focused on the implemented work which will become a basis for future development of the country.
The next step is the appointment of the government members within 20 days after appointment of the prime minister. Then in 20 days the composed government should present their political program. Even though the constitution gives 50 days for the whole process, it took only 20 days, as on June 20 the government intends to present a new five-year activity program to the parliament.
Some experts have already expressed skepticism about fulfillment of the program on reforming the economy by the government. According to experts, maintaining the prime minister and most ministers means preservation of the old power system: “We shouldn’t expect any changes. The authorities marked clearly they won’t fulfill reforms, as they are satisfied with the current half-criminal oligarchic system,” the former head of the Central Bank of Armenia, Bagrat Asatryan, says.
The chairman of the parliamentary commission on economic issues from RPA, Vardan Aivazyan, said that the government will be changed after the presidential elections in 2013: “Everything depends on what political situation will be formed as the result of the presidential election.”
His opinion seems to be reasonable. Today, ahead of the presidential elections, President Sargsyan doesn’t want to change the governmental structure and implement any reorganization. Considering the Armenian tradition to use administrative resources in a full scale, the current government will probab;y prepare for the presidential elections.
