The Real Debate Should Also Include Extraparliamentary Forces: Ara Vardanyan

Former Director of the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund Ara Vardanyan wrote on his Facebook page:

“Having closely followed the discussions on the government program in the National Assembly in the past two days, it is with regret that we must state that there is no parliamentary opposition in today’s Armenia. If one asks the Prime Minister not to be rude, while the other counts how many times a word is repeated in the text, what do we want? There is a good expression in Russian: Какой привет такой ответ. As a result, we get populist questions and populist answers.

The presented budget reflects the ruling political force's vision for the future development of our country. Certainly, it is difficult to assess the government’s work in the absence of numbers, but it is not impossible at all.

Honestly, I expected serious discussions around crucial issues in healthcare and agriculture insurance, among others. But it turns out that those are not important; what matters are the numbers. While our "opposition" in the National Assembly urges the Prime Minister not to be rude, representatives of real opposition, who are perhaps not represented in the National Assembly and do not belong to a single political force, are seriously discussing the proposed project across various platforms. In my deep conviction, the real debate and exchange of opinions should also involve extraparliamentary forces, with whom the presented budget project could be significantly improved. What can I say, we have what we have. May God free us from even worse.”