ARMENIA'S NEW PARLIAMENT CONVENES WITHOUT

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000748 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS 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 SIPDIS 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