Ruling coalition memorandum signed in Armenia

The Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), led by the country’s President, Serzh Sargsyan, and the 125-year old Armenian Revolutionary Federation ‘Dashnaktsutyun’(ARFD), signed a coalition memorandum stating that the RPA and ARFD will jointly assume responsibility for the country’s governance.

Formation of the coalition hasn’t come as a surprise, since as early as last year, the RPA and ARF signed a memorandum on political cooperation, based on which Dashnaktsutyun got 3 ministerial and 2 governor posts and actually joined the government. The decision on the distribution of power is enshrined in this document in the form of a coalition cooperation after the parliamentary elections, held in Armenia on 2 April 2017, as a result of which the Republican Party gained the majority of votes.

As Armen Ashotyan, the RPA Deputy Chair, stated after signing the document, the fight against corruption, introduction of the ‘Nation-army’ concept, legal reforms, formation of a competitive economy, further assistance to institutions dealing with human rights and freedom issues are the key trends of the parties’ coalition cooperation.

Aghvan Vardanyan from the ARFD party pointed out that the two parties have a common system of values and they will manage to carry out qualitative changes through good performance and hard work.

The RPA and ARFD used to be coalition partners in the past, but in 2009, a year after Serzh Sargsyan was elected as the country’s president, the ARFD left the coalition and declared itself the opposition.

The coalition partners haven’t specified in the memorandum how exactly the seats in the government will be distributed, whether the ARFD will maintain 3 ministerial and 2 governor seats or will aquire more posts.

It is only pointed out in the document that the RPA is entitled to nominate the PM candidate, whereas under the country’s new Constitution, this is the central post in Armenia after the country’s transition to a parliamentary form of government.

As President Sargsyan stated ahead of elections, Karen Karapetyan, an RPA member and incumbent head of government, would be nominated for the Prime Minister’s post. In his recent interview, Karen Karapetyan has confirmed his readiness to continue to lead the cabinet.

The document on the formation of the ruling coalition will be in effect until the end of the Parliament’s tenure, which will be for a period of 5 years.