Crisis in the Republican Party: Executive Members Sequentially Sever Ties with the Party

The newspaper 'Zhoghovurd' reports: Another member of the Executive Board of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) announced yesterday that they are leaving the party—former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Arpine Hovhannisyan, who was among the top three candidates on the RPA list in the last two parliamentary elections.

As a result, the RPA Executive Board finds itself in an undesirable situation. In the congress held on November 26, 2016, the composition of the Executive Board was decided to be 21 members, however, only 17 remain now. The first to leave the RPA Executive Board was Hovik Abrahamyan during the time of RPA governance, followed by Karen Karapetyan, Samvel Farmanyan, and Arpine Hovhannisyan after the Velvet Revolution.

According to the RPA statutes, the Executive Board meetings are valid if more than two-thirds, specifically 15 members, participate in them.

Considering that several of those de jure remaining in the Executive Board have effectively severed their ties with the party, holding a valid meeting of the Executive Board is becoming increasingly difficult. Taron Margaryan has not been in Armenia for quite some time, Karen Karapetyan has long ceased to be involved with the RPA, and after the criminal case associated with the Youth Foundation, Karen Avagyan has also vanished from the scene. In short, there is indeed a crisis in the former ruling party.

For more details, see today's issue of the newspaper.