ARMENIA'S NEW PARLIAMENT CONVENES WITHOUT

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000748

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA'S NEW PARLIAMENT CONVENES WITHOUT
OPPOSITION; GOVERNING COALITION FORMED; NEW CABINET TAKING
SHAPE



1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Armenia's newly-elected parliament
convened for the first time on June 7, after a coalition
arrangement was signed on June 6. PM Sargsian's Republican
Party will lead a "two plus one" coalition, with the
tycoon-led "Prosperous Armenia" as a coalition partner and
the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun party "cooperating." While it will be
unlikely to speed the pace of reform, this coalition is a
recipe for stability in domestic and foreign policy. END
SUMMARY


2. (SBU) PARLIAMENT CONVENES, UNDERSTRENGTH: The newly
elected National Assembly was seated June 7, without the
participation of the two opposition parties, Orinats Yerkir
and Heritage. The two opposition parties claimed that the
government's constitutional interpretation which pushed back
the parliament convocation to June 7, from May 31, was
illegal and furthermore was not directly communicated to
them. They claim to have learned of the change from news
media reports. Without Orinats Yerkir's eight or Heritage's
seven parliamentary deputies present, and with one seat left
vacant (septel),and one member absent, the new parliament
convened with 114 members present.


3. (SBU) ...AND SELECTS LEADERS: Republican Tigran Torossian
was almost unanimously re-elected to the Speaker's chair.
Veteran ARF-Dashnaktsutyun parliamentarian Vahan Hovhanessian
was also elected to resume his prior position as Deputy
Speaker, while a new face from Prosperous Armenia, Ishkan
Zakaryan, was elected to the second Deputy Speaker position.
Committee chairmanships had not yet been announced as of late
June 7.


3. (SBU) GOVERNING COALITION: Political party leaders
announced that they had reached formal agreement on the
make-up of the governing coalition. The Republican Party of
Armenia and Prosperous Armenia are the only full-fleged
members of the coalition, but the more independent-minded
ARF-Dashnaksutyun will have a looser cooperation arrangement
with the governing parties. Republican and Dashnak
statements made clear that the ARF's full participation in
the governing coalition faltered on the Republicans'
insistence that all parties within the ruling coalition must
promise to support Serzh Sargsian's candidacy for president
in 2008, a commitment that the Dashnaks were not prepared to
make. Instead, in an unusual cooperation arrangement, the
Dashnaks have been allowed to pick two ministers (Levon
Mkrtchian is set to remain at the Education and Science
Ministry and David Lokian will remain in charge of
Agriculture),while the Dashnaks will select a third ARF
minister who will serve purely at the Republicans' pleasure.
The ARF will reportedly retain discretion full discretion to
hire and fire whomever they like in the Education and
Agriculture portfolios for the duration of the ARF's
cooperation agreement with the governing coalition.


3. (U) OTHER CABINET NEWS: Prosperous Armenia (PA) leader
Gagik Tsarukian announced that his party was offered and has
accepted three ministerial seats. The Health Ministry will
go to PA's Harutyun Kushkian (who currently owns two private
hospitals in Yerevan). The Urban Development Ministry will be
assigned to Vardan Vardanian, who served as deputy minister
of Transport and Communication in the last government. A new
cabinet-rank agency for Sports will be created and this
portfolio will go to PA, though the nominee has not been
announced. Tsarukian said that his party had expected to win
more legislative seats, but "this is not a time for being
sad."


4. (U) CABINET DEPARTURES: The fact that the outgoing
ministers of Justice (David Harutyunian),Trade (Karen
Tshmaritian),and Nature Protection (Vardan Ayvazian),have

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each formally accepted their Republican party list seats and
been seated in the legislature indicates that they will not
have ministerial assignments in the new cabinet.


5. (SBU) PARLIAMENT MAKE-UP: Overall, the new parliament is
comprised of 63 Republicans (41 party list and 22
majoritarian seats),25 Prosperous Armenia (18 proportional/7
majoritarian),16 ARF-Dashnaktsutyun (party list),eight
Orinats Yerkir (party list),seven Heritage (party list),and
10 independent majoritarian MPs, of whom seven are considered
pro-Republican, one is pro-PA, and two deemed truly
independent. There is one vacancy which will be filled by a
re-run election in upcoming weeks.
GODFREY