The ruling Republican Party (HHK) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) have started negotiations on extending their power-sharing agreement reached a year ago, a senior HHK representative said late on Wednesday.
“Dashnaktsutyun’s Armen Rustamian said [this week] that discussions are underway. I want to confirm that the Republican Party and Dashnaktsutyun are indeed discussing the issue of their continued cooperation,” said Eduard Sharmazanov, the HHK spokesman.
“When these discussions are over, we will let you know their results,” Sharmazanov told reporters after a weekly meeting of the HHK’s governing body headed by President Serzh Sarkisian. He refused to give details of the talks.
Dashnaktsutyun is represented in the current Armenian government by three ministers in line with the agreement signed in February 2016. The HHK has expressed readiness to extend that deal after the April 2 parliamentary elections which it won by landslide.
The ruling party will have 58 seats in Armenia’s new 105-member parliament, compared with 7 seats won by Dashnaktsutyun. A Dashnaktsutyun leader admitted last week that his party hoped to make a stronger showing in the elections.
Sharmazanov said that a coalition deal with businessman Gagik Tsarukian’s alliance, the runner-up in the vote, is still “not on our agenda.” “Right now the HHK is discussing only with its Dashnaktsutyun partners the format of cooperation in the future government,” he said.
The Tsarukian Bloc shed no light on its next political moves in an election-related statement released on April 3. None of its senior members has made public statements since then.