Sharmazanov: When Serzh Sargsyan promised not to claim the post of prime minister, there were other political realities
ArmInfo."At the moment, the ruling party does not have an officially appointed candidate for the post of prime minister, all candidates are "nominated" by the press at their discretion. As for us, we need to hold a meeting for discussion and nomination of candidates,"on December 19 in a conversation with a reporter ArmInfo was told by the Vice Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Eduard Sharmazanov, referring to the following one after another statements of the RPA representatives that the only and irreplaceable candidate for the post of the Prime Minister of Armenia after its transition to a parliamentary form of government Is Serzh Sargsyan.
The Vice-Speaker did not exclude the possibility that Serzh Sargsyan or Karen Karapetyan will not be a candidate for the post of prime minister in April 2018. "When the time comes, we will hold a meeting headed by the President of Armenia and discuss all candidacies. The word of Sargsyan, of course, will be decisive," Sharmazanov stressed.
Nevertheless, Sharmazanov, echoing the statements of his fellow party members, said that the most prepared and acceptable candidate for the post of prime minister of Armenia is Serzh Sargsyan. "I simply do not know the more wise and well-trained figure in all spheres, from the sphere of defense and ending with foreign policy." Besides, do not forget that it is Serzh Sargsyan who has been negotiating for a long time on the settlement of the Karabakh issue, emphasized the vice-speaker.
At the same time, Sharmazanov noted that regardless of who becomes the prime minister, the current president is still the head of the ruling party. Sharmazanov noted that Karen Karapetyan is also an outstanding statesman, but the powers of the current prime minister and head of the Cabinet after 2018 are completely different. Since 2018, the prime minister will be responsible not only for the economic component of the Cabinet's policy, but also for domestic political and foreign policy. "This is a very heavy burden, not everyone can bare, and we will decide together on whose shoulders we should assign it," Eduard Sharmazanov noted.
Parrying on the remark that the nomination of Serzh Sargsyan for the post of prime minister in 2018 would be a violation of his promise before the constitutional referendum, when the president promised not to claim the post of head of the Cabinet in the event of passing the draft reform to the Basic Law, Sharmazanov remarked: "When Serzh Sargsyan promised this, there were not a number of events that occurred afterwards - for example, there was no April war. There are thousands of cases in history when, under changed political circumstances, the plans of those or First and foremost, Serzh Sargsyan will be guided by the interests of the state, and he needs all our people in the post of prime minister, it's not his will, so the circumstances have been formed," the vice-speaker said, while ignoring the fact that in big politics it is not accepted to make promises for several years ahead, taking into account the inevitable changes in the realities.
Currently there are two candidates for the post of the Prime Minister of Armenia after the transition to the parliamentary form of government - President Serzh Sargsyan and the head of the Cabinet Karen Karapetyan. Sargsyan during his last interview assured that he had not yet decided on his political plans. Earlier, he assured that if he passed the project of constitutional reforms on Armenia's transition to a parliamentary form of government, he would not take the post of prime minister. Meanwhile, recently the members of the ruling Republican Party one by one declare that the most suitable candidate for the post of prime minister after April 2018 is Serzh Sargsyan, and no one in his post can replace him.
Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, responding to a question about his plans after April 2018, stated that he would continue to head the Cabinet with pleasure. Serzh Sargsyan considered this Karapetyan's aspiration "healthy", and his work and the work of the Cabinet he evaluated positively.