YEREVAN. – There is a queue at the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) for a vacant parliamentary mandate, Hraparak daily reported.
“It is actively discussed in the party backstage that whether MP, former Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian, who has left the PAP, will lay down his [parliamentary] mandate at the NA [i.e. National Assembly] four-day [session] starting next week.
“After the events of the past, he had informed in a narrow circle about his wish to lay down the mandate. But as a result of negotiations, Oskanian has so far announced solely about leaving the PAP, suspending the wish to put [down] the [MP] mandate.
“Now, the former foreign minister is silent on whether or not to put [down] the mandate, and it is difficult to say whether or not he will indeed make that move next week.
“But perhaps it is those standing in line for a vacant [parliamentary] mandate in the PAP who are spreading such news,” Hraparak wrote.
As reported earlier, speaking at the February 12 meeting of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Board, President Serzh Sargsyan, who is also chairman of the RPA Board, had stated that then-PAP Chairman, MP and oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan had become a vice for the country as a political player. He also relieved the PAP leader from his status as a National Security Council member, and promised that a process will begin in connection with Tsarukyan’s frequent absence from the parliament sessions.
In response to President Sargsyan’s remarks, Gagik Tsarukyan issued a statement, on February 13, noting that the incumbent authorities must be removed from power immediately. In addition, he urged to achieve Serzh Sargsyan’s resignation by way of lawful political methods.
On February 17, however, Serzh Sargsyan and Gagik Tsarukyan held a brokered talk, and on the next day, the then-PAP leader issued a milder statement. He also called off the rally that was slated for February 20.
And on March 5, Tsarukyan announced that he is quitting the PAP and active politics, PAP National Assembly Faction Secretary Naira Zohrabyan was elected new leader of the Prosperous Armenia Party, and she declared the latter—which had been a non-pro-government force—an opposition party. Subsequently, however, numerous members have started quitting the party.
