The latest congress of the Armenian National Movement (ANM) showed that the ANM does not exist any more or it wants to change, Galust Sahakyan, Chairman of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) parliamentary faction told reporters on July 28. “To change it needs more time to become a stronger force,” Sahakyan said. He pointed out that neither the ANM nor the Armenian National Congress (ANC) stands a chance to get into the future Parliament.

Responding to NEWS.am’s question as to whether the RPA is ready to help the ANM or the ANC get into Parliament, Sahakyan said: “What do you mean by ‘help’? Even if there is a tendency, I cannot explain to any member of our regional chapter that he should be a little passive for Levon Ter-Petrosyan to come and get two or three votes more.” The RPA Vice-Chairman also said that help means reaching agreements on what the authorities and the Opposition want to do to resolve particular problems. “It would be real help. However, I am sure that there will never be a problem the authorities will discuss with the ANC. Because we say that Nagorno-Karabakh cannot be part of Azerbaijan, but the ANC congress says: ‘Well, let it be, a little better, for Armenia’s development to be ensured.’ That it the ideas immediately clashed in the public,” Sahakyan said. 

On the threshold of the ANC congress, Sahakyan told journalists: “If the ANM presents a list, it will have seats in Parliament. It will be an ANM, not the ANC.” Sahakyan also said that the ANM is a political force that has rather influential political figures among its members. “You may not share a political figure’s opinion, but it is political figures that make elections succeed,” he said. At his July 28 press conference, Sahakyan said that the ANM congress showed his previous remarks concerning the party to be untimely.

Also, Sahakyan made repeated forecasts that the Heritage Party would not get into the future Parliament. His new statement is that the ANC will not get into Parliament either. That is,  there will not be opposition parliamentary forces in Armenia.