YEREVAN. - The past and upcoming elections in Armenia are a farce, a mere formality, People’s Party Chairman Tigran Karapetyan said on Monday during a discussion entitled “Trends in the election campaign in Armenia and possibilities for cooperation between political forces.” 

In his words, this is why the ruling coalition’s Republican Party MP Artak Zakaryan—who attended the same discussion—is so relaxed. “He says we have no problems. We are not preparing. What preparation? Everything is written. The coalition members speak a lot about democracy. There is no democracy. Unadored parties are entering the parliament, disreputable people are elected MPs. And the people have reconciled [with this thought] and are passive. I, too, am in favor of early elections, even 1 month earlier. This system has to end. Look at history, everything is repeating. I don’t know why, but faces are the same [in parliament],” Karapetyan noted, adding they enter the parliament on “consent.”        

Armenia’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for May 2012.