Opinion: Level of legitimacy of new Armenian parliament is high enough

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Comparing to the parliament formed in 2003, the level of legitimacy of the new Armenian National Assembly is high enough, Republican Party Member Armen Ahotyan announced at a news conference on May 21. As a REGNUM correspondent informs, according to the member of the parliament, the main gain of the May 12, 2007 elections is forming of a legitimate legislative body, as well as the fact that they managed to avoid polarization of society in the post-election process.

According to Ashotyan, no processes are expected to take pace in the post-election period. “The parliamentary elections have finished right after the Central Election Commission announced the final outcomes,” he said adding that key opposition forces in Armenia failed to resolve in time the problem of replacing generations in the Armenian party system. “Today’s rallies held by the opposition are just a way of fighting for their existence in the political arena,” he said. Besides, he believes that in order to maintain their political activity, the parties that fail to win seats in the new parliament must join, for instance, under ideological basis. Speaking on the forthcoming presidential elections in Armenia in 2008, the Republican Party member said that the presidential elections will be the final stage за the process of Armenia’s democratic transition. Armen Ashotyan explained it by the opinion that transition to civil consciousness is seen in the country, as “people started considering themselves as founders of the state and apprehended that development of their own country depends on them.”

The Republican Party won an absolute majority at the parliamentary elections.