Gagik Tsarukyan told me he would not return to politics - sociologist (video)
The political forces that recorded good results in the local elections will have success in the 2017 parliamentary elections, sociologist Aharon Adibekyan said on October 14. The sociologist is convinced that the parties should first of all create a serious social base in communities to be able to have more seats in the National Assembly. Adibekyan says the head of the community has a paramount role in the system of local governance because when ‘a person has a problem, he goes to the community head and asks him for money to buy medicine or seeds, pay his child’s tuition fee and feed his family.’ “You help him and then you obligate him to go to the polls and vote for the Republicans. Whom shall I follow – you or some other party that has come to our community to hold a pre-election rally?” The sociologist thinks Armenian businessman Gagik Tsarukyan is unlikely to return to politics. People who predict Tsarukyan’s return believe that with his return Tsarukyan will want to have influence on the authorities and protect his business interests. “When I last talked to Tsarukyan he excluded his return,” Addibekyan stressed. Analysts say that by reshuffling the government before the 2017 elections the Republican Party wanted to change its face in order to be able to get votes in the next elections without the use of administrative levers. Will Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan be able to change anything given the present economic situation in Armenia? “He is likely to have a zero role in the pre-election period. He may stand aside and say, “If the National Assembly elects me as PM I shall stay, otherwise I shall leave the post,” Adibekyan said. The sociologist added that shadow economy exists everywhere and it is normal unless it endangers national security.
