Will Putin twist Sargsyan’s arms
The March 6 parliamentary elections will be the most important in the history of Armenia since the country will be holding the first election after the March 2008 bloodshed, says Director of Regional Studies Center (RSC) Richard Giragosian.
"Expectations from the elections are very high and they will definitely differ from the elections in the Russian Federation," he said.
"The Armenian authorities pledged to improve the quality of elections, but a new conflict is presently brewing within the coalition partners - Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK)," said Mr Giragosian.
He thinks that the upcoming elections will be a real ordeal for Armenia and ‘if they do not differ from the previous elections, the country's leadership will face serious pressure.'
The RSC director says Armenia should learn a good lesson from the Russian elections. He is confident that Russia's president-elect Vladimir Putin will hardly introduce any changes in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.
"During Medvedev's tenure in office the talks over the Karabakh conflict entered into a fairly active phase. Medvedev shook hands with Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev while Putin has different style, he likes to twist arms," said Mr Giragosian.
Unlike Robert Kocahryan (Armenia's second president), Serzh Sargsyan does not have good relationship with Putin. This is good for us because Putin will not try to pressurize Armenia through his personal contacts," said the political scientist.
