“Serzh Sarkisian’s presidential tenure ended yesterday, and just as some people rushed to rejoice at that development they were in for a bitter disappointment,” writes “Zhoghovurd.” “It was announced the same day that Serzh Sarkisian will remain at the helm, as prime minister.” The paper points to outgoing Prime Minister Karen Karapetian’s announcement that he and Sarkisian will tell the ruling Republican Party to nominate the ex-president for prime minister. It claims that Karapetian found himself in an awkward position because he had been promised that he could retain his post in April 2018.
“Zhamanak” also reports and comments on Karapetian’s statement. “Interestingly, until now Karapetian not only did not talk of challenges [facing Armenia] but even expressed readiness to stay on as prime minister,” writes the paper. “It looks like until now he did not know what he is prepared for or what it means to be prime minister under the new model [of government.]”
“Aravot” would have liked to see someone other than Serzh Sarkisian to take over as prime minister. “Maybe he would not have had Serzh Sarkisian’s experience, but that could have prevented some manifestations of stagnation that have been especially visible in recent months,” editorializes the paper. But, it says, Armenians gave the ruling Republican Party (HHK) the mandate to pick the next prime minister in the April 2017 parliamentary elections. “Yes, many of them took 10,000 drams [in vote bribes,]” it says. “If the marching and rejecting [oppositionists] acknowledge the fact that the HHK won the majority of votes in the parliamentary elections, then everything else can be considered secondary.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” questions, meanwhile, the legitimacy of Armenia’s new president, Armen Sarkissian, who was sworn in on Monday. The paper says he has yet to prove that he has held only Armenian citizenship for the last six years in accordance with Armenia’s constitution. It also dismisses Sarkissian’s calls for combatting corruption and injustice and easing economic hardship in the country, arguing that he will have few executive powers.
(Tigran Avetisian)