ArmInfo.The results of the early parliamentary elections in Armenia were quite unexpected, in particular, the serious gap between the votes received by the "Civil Contract" party of Nikol Pashinyan and the "Armenia" bloc of Robert Kocharian.
This was announced on June 24 during a video conference by the first deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots Konstantin Zatulin. According to him, despite the fact that immediately after the announcement of the election results, many experts rushed to assure that this was a completely expected result, in fact, not a single forecast said that Pashinyan's party would be 2.5 times ahead of its opponents.
Clarifying whether the opposition should take mandates or not, the Russian politician expressed his conviction that all those who should receive a mandate under the RA legislation will receive it. He stated that the legislation of Armenia does not prohibit the "Civil Contract" without other political forces to engage in political activities in the parliament.
At the same time, the Russian lawmaker believes that the atmosphere in parliament, first of all, will depend on how the ruling force will behave, while he did not rule out that the matter could reach the fists. "The political crisis in Armenia is not over, it will continue in other forms. The reason for this is the ongoing polarization, which will further worsen, and which is not the same as it was in the previous parliament," Zatulin said. Gagik Tsarukyan's ''Prosperous Armenia " behaved more opportunistically, somewhere it was tougher, and somewhere more flexible.
The MP is convinced that everything will be much tougher in the current parliament, and Kocharian, not Tsarukyan, and in this regard, he advised the MPs to think soberly and act in the interests of Armenia and the Armenian people.
Zatulin also believes that the elections in Armenia were not as fair and transparent as international observers and political scientists, especially western ones, say. In his opinion, there are many doubts about the process, as evidenced by the recount of votes at a number of polling stations. Touching upon the Armenian-Russian relations, the lawmaker expressed his conviction today that neither Mr. Pashinyan can accuse Russia of anything, nor the Russian Federation by and large, does not accuse Mr. Pashinyan in anything, at least publicly, at the official level.
"As for Pashinyan's pro-Westernism, this usually comes from analysts who analyze the composition of his governments and his past activities, everything that he managed to say, including in terms of relations with France, that they are one of the best," said the politician, adding that the Armenian-French relations did not go beyond the joint declaration.
In this vein, he noted that Russia has always understood that Armenia, being in such an environment, having a complex history of the past, is not obliged to cut off its contacts with Western countries and continue to develop them. According to him, the priority of the national policy is important here. "And there are many doubts here. But, on the issue of relations with Russia, one gets the impression that this is a dispute between the good and the even better. Both the Civil Contract and Armenia, no one argued about the need to develop relations with Russia," Zatulin said, adding that in terms of the internal component, you need to understand more deeply.
Clarifying what prevented the French troops from being stationed in the region, Zatulin stressed that he would not like to condemn France to some extent. The politician added that at least France has a position close to the Russian one on the issue of Armenia, which cannot be said about other countries, at least about the neighbor of Paris through the channel - Great Britain. Zatulin pointed out that Great Britain has always openly supported Turkey and continues to do so. "I mean the line of Great Britain in the Caucasus, and this is not only the events around the last Karabakh war, not only during the 20th century, but also during the Crimean War in the 19th century. Great Britain has always believed that Turkey is a kind of barrier to the expansion of Russian influence and should always be supported. Therefore, France is more our ally than an adversary. But, you are right, judging by the bare remnants, did nothing but a declaration. But sometimes declarations are very important - as, for example, on the issue of recognizing the Armenian Genocide. The whoe question is that France does not have real leverage in the Caucasus and cannot act as actively as the Russian Federation can, "Zatulin summed up.