Friday, February 12 2016 06:09

Artsvik Minasyan, Armenian lawmaker from ARF Dashnaktsutyun (ARFD) refutes the media reports that ARFD members experience discrepancies about future cooperation with the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and that there may be no interaction between the two forces.

"Utter nonsense!" Minasyan has told an ArmInfo correspondent, when commenting on the media reports that discrepancies have arisen within ARFD because of the candidacies for the posts of minister of science and education and minister of territorial administration. By the way, ArmInfo's sources in RPA have also refuted this information: "RPA and ARFD have already come to a final agreement.  There are no uncertainties and there is no turning back". 

Meanwhile, according to the media reports, ARFD held heated debates on Feb 11 night and most representatives of the party opposed cooperation with RPA. They also expressed their objection to the candidacies of Levon Mkrtchyan and David Lokyan for the posts of minister of education and science and minister of territorial administration, respectively. Media outlets report that things have come to such a pitch that ARFD may even refuse cooperation with RPA.       

It is noteworthy that earlier the mass media reported that tonight President Serzh Sargsyan and ARFD representatives are going to sign a memorandum of cooperation and the staff of the future government will be made public. However, Armenian President Spokesman Vladimir Hakobyan was quick to refute this information, stressing that today the President will speak of the constitutional amendments only.   

Earlier, ArmInfo reported, citing its own sources that RPA and ARFD have reached a consensus. ARFD will receive the portfolios of the minister of economy (Artsvik Minasyan), minister of territorial administration (David Lokyan), minister of education and science (Levon Mkrtchyan), as well as the portfolios of the governors of Shirak and Aragatsotn provinces. 
According to the media reports, ARFD will also get the post of the National Security Council Secretary for Arthur Aghabekyan (who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister of Artsakh). Meanwhile, Artsvik Minasyan told ArmInfo that he holds no such information. ARFD is also reported to receive the portfolios of 6 deputy ministers - at the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Finance. Ara Nranyan, for instance, will become a deputy minister of finance.