Prosperous Armenia’s leaving coalition would be irrational - expert

 October 19, 2011 - 13:08 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The director of Caucasus Institute believes Prosperous Armenia party’s leaving the coalition would be an irrational step.

As Alexander Iskandaryan told a news conference in Yerevan, “withdrawing from coalition, Prosperous Armenia would lose many tools to affect the election race. Besides, the party will no longer be represented in state machinery.”

“I doubt the party’s success, were it to shift to opposition,” the expert said. “Prosperous Armenia is trying to win a relatively substantial position in the oncoming parliamentary race,” he said.

The expert takes differences among coalition parties on the threshold of parliamentary election in their stride. “Each one of the parties to participate in the race is vying for the majority of parliament seats, with a pre-election struggle getting increasingly acute,” the expert noted, characterizing cooperation between Armenian National Congress (ANC) opposition bloc and Prosperous Armenia as unfeasible.

According to Hraparak newspaper, RPA executive body gathering focused on further cooperation with Prosperous Armenia party. The newspaper said that some RPA members considered Prosperous Armenia leader Gagik Tsarukyan’s refusal to publicly announce support for Serzh Sargsyan’s candidacy at next presidential race to be unacceptable. Despite coalition memorandum signed, Tsarukyan spoke of the party’s intention to initiate a separate presidential campaign. RPA executive body gave Prosperous Armenia till next week to specify its position, expressing support for Sargsyan’s nomination.

Following the meeting, RPA members refused to reveal any detail, with the party spokesman Eduard Sharmazanov noting domestic situation as the theme of discussion held.