Political strategist: "Fights" in parliament demonstrate that the  times of systemic opposition are already in the past

ArmInfo. The rather tough confrontation between the parliamentary majority and the two opposition factions, which began from the first days of the work of  the National Assembly of the 8th convocation, demonstrates that the  times of systemic opposition are already in the past.  Political  strategist Vigen Hakobyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.

"If in the previous parliament there were parties that consider  themselves opposition only because they were not part of the  government, now there is a radical opposition in parliament, people,  who took parliamentary mandates in order to continue street struggle  within the walls of parliament in order to overthrow the government.  And this opposition is trying to wage this fight on the street, in  parliament and in the information arena, "he said.

In this light, the political strategist noted that over the past two  weeks, in particular, the desire of the "Hayastan" and "I Have Honor"  factions to use the parliamentary rostrum not as a platform for  lawmaking, but as another tool, along with the street, for political  fight. In his opinion, today the opposition is to convey its point of  view to the general public from the rostrum of the parliament.  However, in his opinion, such a tactic can only have a short-term  success, since it will soon become commonplace, and the rating of  live broadcasts of parliamentary sessions will very quickly fall.

Against this background, the ruling force, according to Hakobyan,  voicing calls for constructive work, is trying to transfer political  processes to a more comfortable systemic field. And they are trying  to find in the "Hayastan" and "I have honor" "street factions"  a  systemic opposition that is habitually comfortable for themselves.  The "Civil Contract" is trying to tear the opposition away from the  "street" and begin to negotiate with it.

"Based on the results of the first two weeks of the parliament's  work, we have to admit that the authorities have not yet been able to  agree on any issues with the current opposition in parliament. And if  in the first sessions of parliament the ruling force demonstrated a  desire for a conciliatory dialogue with opponents, then later it  somewhat toughened its rhetoric. It is not excluded that the  pro-government MPs did this, having come to the conclusion that their  peacefulness can be viewed as a sign of weakness, "the political  strategist suggested.

In general, according to Hakobyan, such a situation was quite  predictable from the outset, due to the emergence of not constructive  opposition, but radical opposition forces within the walls of  parliament. A similar status, in his opinion, presupposes a very  specific line of behavior and tactics, through which the opposition,  among other things, tries to justify its presence in parliament in  the eyes of its own radical electorate.

"The opposition demonstrates that it came to the parliament not to  discuss laws with the current government in a constructive and  partner-like environment, but to resolve its own political agenda,  which consists in the early overthrow of this very government. And  the past two weeks have shown that the two opposition factions, on  the whole, manage to work together. And the authorities fail to come  to an agreement with them. I think that if the opposition manages to  use the street factor in parallel with the work in parliament, this  work will become much more effective," the political strategist  summed up.

It should be noted that following the results of the first two weeks  of the work of the 8th convocation of the National Assembly of  Armenia, we have to record the absolute unwillingness of the people's  representatives to participate in the discussion of the accumulated  external and internal problems of the country. With very rare  exceptions, parliamentarians use the NA rostrum for mutual  accusations, reproaches, hints and swearing. Moreover, we are talking  about all three parliamentary factions without exception. Moreover,  in a strange way, representatives of the opposition "Hayastan" and "I  Have Honor" blocs shy away from demanding the ruling Civil Contract  party to disclose the current negotiating agenda with Azerbaijan and  Russia, preferring to focus on interpersonal issues.