Does Karen Karapetyan remember Serzh Sargsyan's promises? (video)
On January 13, Armenia’s Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan invited a press conference to detail his policy plans and sum up his first 100 days in office. He divided his report into four parts, presenting in detail the work they had done and steps to be done. Karen Karapetyan stressed that his team is ‘professional, patriotic, decent and hard-working.’ Journalists asked the PM about his role in the upcoming parliamentary elections, how he was going to persuade people to cast their votes for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) he is affiliated with and whether he could participate in the elections as he had not lived in Armenia in the past five years. “I am a citizen of the Republic of Armenia although I have lived in another country in recent years. Should my certificate [of citizenship] not comply with the requirements, I shall not participate [in the elections].” Asked whether he remembered the three strategic pledges of Serzh Sargsyan, Mr. Karapetyan said, “I shall not avoid answering your question, but let us simply return to our format. This is not the platform where I think you should ask questions about Serzh Sargsyan. Maybe, I shall not participate in the campaign at all. You ask me how people can believe his promises if they have not believed [him] until now… I shall answer your question – they will believe in us seeing our work. Each and every agency should do its work. I do not shrink away from my words: I used the expression ‘simple theft’ which may have sounded emotional but I simply meant the effectiveness of our expenses. I do not want to catch someone red-handed, I want us to be able to manage the financial flows.” In reply to the question how the premier was going to keep his economic promises in the pre-election year, Mr. Karapetyan said, “The program we have submitted by the budget must be realistic but I do not see a tragedy here if part of the program is not implemented. Figures do not matter as much as the idea and efforts used for the development of the economy.”
