YEREVAN. – First Secretary Ruben Tovmasyan of the Communist Party of Armenia Central Committee is pessimistic toward the Prosperous Armenia Party’s (PAP) efforts to consolidate itself in the country’s political opposition. Tovmasyan himself stated this during a press conference on Tuesday.  

Commenting on PAP Chairman Gagik Tsarukyan’s recent statement with reference to not taking part in the ruling coalition, the Communist Party leader noted that he is unaware of the concept of “constructive opposition,” which the PAP declares itself.     

“A political force can either be opposition or non-opposition,” Tovmasyan said.

And with respect to the Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party (RLP), which was a coalition partner before the recent parliamentary elections, Ruben Tovmasyan stressed: “They were stating that the RLP has 180,000 members. How was it [then] that they received much lesser votes [in the elections]?”  

To note, the RLP received close to 80,000 votes with the proportional election system, in the case when it was declaring of having 170,000 members.