21 December, 2012
Main speakers:
Tevan Poghosyan - MP, HeritageParty;
Artak Zakaryan - MP, RepublicanParty,Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations;
Sergey Minasyan - Head of CI Political Studies Department;
Moderator: Arshaluys Mghdesyan, political and economic observer, Regnum news agency.
Tevan Poghosyan was the first to speak. He began with saying that the nomination of candidates is not over and therefore, we cannot discuss the upcoming elections in full detail. He also expressed confidence that the leader of Heritage Party, Raffi Hovannisyan, would soon officially become a candidate. In this context, Mr. Poghosyan reminded the audience of the letter that Mr. Hovannisyan had written to current president Serzh Sargsyan, in which he describes how to insure a fair election process. As for the upcoming campaign, Mr. Poghosyan is certain that his party’s campaign will be interesting and appealing. He also discussed the possibility that some political parties would go into coalitions and thereby create some competition in the field. At the end of his speech, the MP shared his expectation that a new government would be formed after the elections.
Artak Zakaryan, a member of the ruling Republican Party, was the second speaker. He started his speech with emphasizing that although Armenia is a relatively young democracy and not fully formed, the Republican Party has enough experience to ensure a fair election process and its decisive victory. He also stated that, despite the fact that competitors are not yet officially known, members of the Republican Party and their candidate, the incumbent president Serzh Sargsyan, will treat them with all the respect they deserve. He also said that the Republican Party of Armenia had two main priorities: to make sure that the President will be reelected, and to make these elections the best in the history of modern independent Armenia.
Sergey Minasyan, the last speaker of the event, tried to look at the issue from the perspective of a political scientist analyzing the dynamics of the current situation. He pointed out that the current developments greatly remind the parliamentary elections in May and are their logical consequence. Mr. Minasyan expressed his approval of the fact that, for the first time, decisions about the nomination of candidates are not made clandestinely but as a result of open negotiations between political actors. He anticipates that the electoral process will be relatively stable and the legitimacy of the elected candidate will not be questioned. Mr. Minasyan also pointed out that, at least technically, elections in Armenia are considerably better that those in Azerbaijan. Dr Minasyan concluded his speech by stating that this election is not a competition of ideologies but of individuals and political bodies.
The presentations were followed by a lively debate. Question raised by the participants mainly concerned the achievements of the last five years as well as the issues that still await resolution. Both MPs agreed that the unresolved problems include corruption, social injustice and monopolization. Various approaches were discussed with regard to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh: part of the audience thought that great achievements have been made in this direction, and as a result, Armenia is being treated by the international community as the keeper of peace in the region. Others expressed the opinion that the prolongation of the status quo in the conflict is a negative development.
At the end of the debate, both MPs expressed confidence that their candidate was going to win the election in 2013.