Friday, June 19 2020 16:06

ArmInfo. In any consolidation, it  is not the number of consolidating political forces, but the number  of the electorate behind them that matters, President of Yerevan  Press Club Boris Navasardyan, expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.

<None of the forces that are discussing the possibility of  consolidation today, has a real electorate except Prosperous Armenia.  Thus, in terms of the real electorate, the consolidation of the  opposition field will not create an additional protest mass beyond  the existing one. In particular, this will not change the situation  of the PAP>, he stressed.

Another factor around the forces requiring the resignation of the  government and Prime Minister Pashinyan, the expert considers their  division into two parts. He means the previous and new political  forces. The previous ones are those who had power before May 2018 and  the new ones who did not have power. The latter may consolidate  around a force that does not oppose the revolution, but the  government, which has been unable to realize the ideas of the  revolution. Thus, these forces, according to Navasardyan, can try to  lead conventionally revolutionary forces not limiting themselves to a  few counter-revolutionary segment of society.

Returning to Prosperous Armenia, Navasardyan emphasized that the PAP,  unlike many other opposition parties, has an electorate. And  regardless of how this electorate was created, its presence is a  fact. And its leader Gagik Tsarukyan, in spite of everything, still  remains an oligarch, moreover, precisely in the classical concept of  this definition.

In this light, the expert believes that the authorities act being  aware of the challenges they face. And the activity of the  authorities, their decision to deprive Gagik Tsarukyan of immunity  and freedom, of course, is politically motivated, especially in light  of the looming prospects of consolidation of various opposition  forces. According to his forecasts, given the presence of  socio-economic problems caused by the coronavirus, such consolidation  can create a rather dangerous prospect for the authorities.  Especially if <Prosperous Armenia> takes part in the consolidation.

"Of course, I have no doubt that the oligarch Tsarukyan has a wide  variety of problems with the law. I have no doubt about the obvious  criminal content of his case. At the same time, the steps taken by  the authorities against Tsarukyan today are still somewhat delayed,  in my opinion. The processes developing today around the oligarch  Tsarukyan, once again demonstrate inconsistency and indecisiveness of  the actions of the authorities over the past two years, "Navasardyan  summed up.

On June 16, the parliamentary majority - the My Step bloc deprived  Gagik Tsarukyan, chairman of the Prosperous Armenia Party, of  parliamentary immunity, allowing criminal prosecution against him. A  little later, they granted the request of Prosecutor General Artak  Davtyan to imprison Tsarukyan. Tsarukyan's Party and Bright Armenia  did not take part in the secret ballot.

Earlier, the NSS reported that more than $ 60 million was received by  the state budget as a result of the illegal activities of Tsarukyan's  companies in the gambling business. After that, the special services  informed the public about two more criminal cases. The first is  connected with the distribution of bribes during the 2017 election  campaign, the second with the appropriation of land in the village of  Arinj.