YEREVAN. – Armenia needs the formation of an opposition, “Reform” NGO Director, publicist Karine Hakobyan stated at a press conference on Thursday.

Being against the idea of a coalition government in a country such as Armenia, Hakobyan explained that such a coalition is formed at times of war, when an actual consolidation of the people is observed. As per the publicist, however, neither one of these exists in Armenia.

In her view, Armenia’s coalition government, which was formed in 2003, has become a real catastrophe for the country, since its participants began dividing the domains amongst one another, whereas the political opposition disappeared.
Arguing that a coalition is formed to weaken the opposition, the publicist welcomed the Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party’s (RLP) decision to leave the coalition government. 

But Hakobyan did not make any conclusions on the actions by newly appointed PM Hovik Abrahamyan because, in her view, “he has not done anything yet.”

“One can hope that he will prove to the public the correctness of his selection [as the new PM],” she said.

In turn, Armenia’s first Human Rights Defender, “Against Legal Arbitrariness” NGO Executive Director, public activist Larisa Alaverdyan stated that she does not believe that RLP has now become an opposition. 

Alaverdyan also stressed that Armenia’s political system and the president play a decisive role in everything in the country, and therefore even if new faces appear in the next government, significant changes are not expected. 
According to the NGO director, Hovik Abrahamyan’s past track-record proves that he, based on group interests, abuses the powers at his disposal.