(Saturday, October 20)
“Hraparak” reports that the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe gave on Friday a cautious but mostly positive assessment of amendments to the Electoral Code drafted by the Armenian government. The paper says the commission stated that its reservations will not really matter if Armenian parliamentary forces reach a consensus on the entire legislative package.
“Aravot” says that the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) will take a “risky step” if it does decide to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections. “It can be said for certain that this party would not win seats in the parliament,” editorializes the paper. It says the HHK’s participation would also have a negative impact on “the whole atmosphere of the election campaign.” In that case, it says, Nikol Pashinian’s party and other all contenders would spend most of their time lambasting the HHK and Sarkisian.
“Zhamanak” says that Pashinian will likely meet with local leaders of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) during his upcoming visit to Lebanon. The paper expects Pashinian to discuss with them their party’s activities in Armenia.
“Business expects real work from the government,” reads a headline in “168 Zham.” “The economy has stopped because there is no economic policy and there is no vision as to where we are headed,” writes the paper. It says that Pashinian’s government is hampering economic growth with its “crude” tax evasion and other crackdowns on businesspeople. “There is hardly any major business that has not been inspected and made a subject of public vendettas for slighter violations in the past several months. The fact is that business is definitely not looking forward to the parliamentary elections … Business is waiting to see when this theater will end so that it can operate in normal conditions and develop the country.”
(Tatev Danielian)