The RA National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Stae and Legal Affairs unanimously passed a resolution that would allow for the creation of an ad-hoc commission to investigate the events of March 1, 2008.
Ararat Mirzoyan is a PhD. Candidate in History who seemingly has run afoul of the administration at Yerevan State University for his outspoken views.
As expected, the RA Constitutional Court rejected the petitions of two former presidential candidates seeking to annul the February 18 presidential election.
In the letter, addressed to Armenian Bar Association Chairman Garo Ghazaryan, Ahern writes about the fraud he witnessed on election day, particularly in Precinct 26/1.
Raffi Hovannisian’s representative, MP Zarouhie Postanjyan, asked Serzh Sargsyan’s representative Davit Haroutyunyan why the president didn't intervene when the website of the Central Electoral Commission stopped working during the initial tally of the votes.
Prosperous Armenia Party press spokesperson Tigran Ourikhanyan told reporters today that he could only share his personal perspective on the hunger strike that Hovannisian began after yesterday’s public rally.
As the RA Constitutional Court prepares to review the petitions filed by two former presidential candidates to have the February 18 presidential election annulled, Minister of Justice Hrayr Tovmasyan will be on vacation until March 14.
Current Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan leads the ticket, followed by international chess grand master Smbat Lpoutyan and Hovhannes Tokmajyan, Rector of the Yerevan State University of Architecture and Construction.
Karen Haroutyunyan is one of the activists who interrupted a press conference of the OSCE/ODIHR election monitors in the Armenia Marriott Hotel on February 19.
Members of the Armenian Parliament today observed one minute of silence to commemorate those Armenians killed in the 1988 Sumgait and 1990 Baku pogroms.
The bill, introduced by the government, would allow alternative military service to citizens of Armenia whose religious beliefs or convictions were opposed to bearing arms or using them.
“We also have heard dried milk thesis but it hasn't been verified. Nevertheless, we believe that some kind of food poisoning is the cause,” Haroutyunyan said.
It appears that Armavir Mayor Ruben Khlghatyan’s request to resign has been overturned by President Serzh Sargsyan himself. Khlghatyan’s request had been accepted by the town’s municipal council just the other day.
The rumor mill has it that President Serzh Sargsyan is not ready to accept the resignation request tendered by Armavir Mayor Khlghatyan.
Abrahamyan said that the parliament’s secretariat had been unable to contact Central Electoral Commission President Tigran Moukouchyan in order to invite him to the National Assembly as well.
This reporter asked Ourikhanyan, who also serves as the BHK’s press spokesperson to clarify the statement; specifically, will the party join those in Freedom Square and elsewhere who have rejected the official vote results on the February 18 presidential election?
National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamyan has invited leaders of the majority and opposition factions to join him for a consultation on the post-election situation in Armenia.
HAK MP Nikol Pashinyan criticized the legislature for getting bogged down in matters that had no relevancy to reality and should be focusing on the past-election situation that is “in the hearts and minds of the people”.
“We must wait to hear what Raffi, who has assumed the heavy responsibility of putting our country on the correct and legal path has to say,” Bakhshyan urged.
Anahit Bakhshyan from the Heritage Party told Hetq that Raffi Hovannisian would issue his final evaluation regarding yesterday’s election at Freedom Square at 5pm today.
One cabby waiting outside the 19/18 polling station told me they be at it all day but refused to say how much they were getting paid. “It’s a major secret,” he confessed.
Before becoming ambassador to Germany, Martirosyan also served as the executive director of HayEconomBank in Armenia. In 2011, he also received 142,000 ($348) in stock dividends from the bank.
The entire event also had the hallmarks of a political campaign since the young people wore scarves and vests displaying the slogans of President Sargsyan.
Another 289 in the sdame district are registered as residing in the “Kanaker Tunnel”. Another 18 are registered as residing in the “Dosaaf Restaurant” in Davtashen Neighborhood 3.
Robert Nazaryan has headed Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission since 2003. As such, he basically gives the green light to proposed rate hikes for utilities like electricity, gas and water.
In an unexpected about-face, presidential candidate Paryur Hayrikian today filed a petition to withdraw a petition he filed yesterday at the Constitutional Court seeking a postponement of the February 18 election.
President Serzh Sargsyan is making a campaign swing today through Armavir Province. Seeking re- election, Sargsyan has already stopped in Edjmiatzin and will soon meet voters in the town of Armavir.
The government is pushing ahead with its plan to build two large-scale hydro-electric plants on the Arax River with financial assistance from Iran. Today, the National Assembly discussed changes to the agreement signed by the two governments that will permit such a project, estimated to cost between $300 and $350 million.
Melikyan said that he wasn’t preparing to file such a demand, noting that at the outset of the campaign he stated that he wouldn’t be petition the Constitutional Court or any other judicial body.
President Sargsyan will make a campaign stop in the tiny community tomorrow as he swings through Armavir. In preparation, workers have been seen filling the potholed streets with red gravel.
According to the RA Law Regarding Victims of Soviet Repression, the government has been implementing a program since 2000 that has been granting favourable long-term home repair loans to victims and their close relatives.
Prosperous Armenia party president Gagik Tsaroukyan today appeared at the National Assembly for the first time since last May’s parliamentary elections.
Armenian presidential candidate Paruyr Hayrikian was shot just minutes before midnight yesterday on a street in downtown Yerevan.
Orbelyan started off the year with 65 million in the bank and winded up with 24 million by year’s end, in addition to 5,500 Euros and $27,000
“We know everything about elections in Armenia. What will take place next month isn't a real election. Serzh Sargsyan will become president again since he has no competition. They removed Vardan Oskanian from the running. Everyone knows it,” said Gordzunian.
Four of the eight candidates running in next month’s Armenian presidential election have filed financial disclosures as required by law. The wealthiest of the four appears to be the current president, Serzh Sargsyan.
An employee of an agency operated by the Armavir Municipality told this reporter that he had been handed a blank official form and was instructed to collect the passport data of at least ten residents in support of President Sargsyan.
Hovhannes Manoukyan, Armenia’s Ambassador to Georgia, definitely makes the richest diplomat list. His 2011 official financial disclosure reveals revenues of $22,574 (salary), 26.136 million AMD (rental income), and “contributions” of $175,000 and 95,000 Euros.
The men of Margara, a village some 500 meters from the Turkish border, wait patiently for the sun’s rays to shine so they can play cards on a small table they've placed outside the mayor’s office.
Perhaps such business holdings are the source of the $1.120 million he declared in his 2011 financial disclosure. He also had 12.2 million Russian rubles ($403,120) and 25.4 million AMD in the bank.
Arsen Shoyan, Armenia’s Ambassador to Bulgaria since January 2011, declared a whopping 63,230 Euros in revenue for the year.
Armenia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) has certified eight candidates out of the fifteen who originally registered, as eligible to appear on the ballot for the presidential election slated for February 18.
The analyst argued that voters don’t know what to make of the situation where many leading opposition candidates have decided not to run, thus paving the way for the easy re-election of President Sargsyan.
Armen Sargsyan, who has been Armenia’s ambassador to China since 2008, is the brother of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan. And he’s a wealthy diplomat to boot.
“Tragically, what is taking place regionally, around Armenia, does not inspire any optimism,” Karapetyan said.
Before his diplomatic posting, Manoukyan served as Armenia’s Minister of Transport and Communications from 2001 to 2008, and then as a presidential adviser. He also served as a MP in the 1990s.
The seven candidates in the running are: RA President Serzh Sargsyan, Hrant Bagratyan (Freedom Party), Raffi Hovannisian (Heritage), Arman Melikyan (former Artsakh Foreign Minister), Paruyr Hayrikyan (leader of National Self-Determination Union), Vardan Sedrakyan (epic tale specialist) and Andreas Ghoukasyan (Director of Radio Hay).
“We have nothing to be proud about, either in foreign affairs or the domestic political scene. Despite certain statements that the socio-economic situation has improved, it is clear that that even if there is a slight increase in economic growth, it has had no real impact on the life of average citizens,” Zohrabyan told Hetq.
Currently, six MPs receive the allowance – Karineh Poghosyan and Hayk Grigoryan from the Republican Party, Grigor Grigoryan from Prosperous Armenia, Ishkhan Khachatryan and Khachik Harutyunyan from Country of Law, and independent MP Edmon Maroukyan.
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