• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Social Media
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • flickr
  • blogger
  • youtube

blog-logo

  • Home
  • Pan-Armenian News
  • UAE Armenians
  • Hrach Kalsahakian
  • Հայերեն բաժին
  • القسم العربي
  • Archives
    • News
    • Articles
    • Directory

The wealthy Parliament of Armenia

August 8, 2008
A+ A-
Email Print

Posted in Azad-Hye Yahoo Group on 31 May 2003


Parliamentary Payoff: Half of new deputies are wealthy businessmen


By Atom Markarian


Armenia's tiny class of millionaires, heavily dependent on government connections, has emerged as one of the main beneficiaries of Sunday's parliamentary elections, wining a record-high number seats in the new parliament.


Preliminary official results of the vote show that about half of the 131 members of the National Assembly will be wealthy businesspeople who have capitalized on the increasingly important factor in Armenian politics: money. For the first time, many of them entered the parliament through the proportional representation lists of pro-establishment parties — a new trend indicating the growing influence of big business in Armenia.


The governing Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), the official winner of the polls, had the most business-dominated list of candidates. It is topped by about a dozen government ministers. Most of them are likely to keep their jobs and cede their parliament mandates to the so-called middle echelon of HHK candidates.


Among them are the owners of large businesses such as the Jermuk Group mineral water firm, Kilikia brewery and the Great Valley liquor group. Also likely to become a deputy is Areg Ghukasyan, the brother of the president of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic who runs lucrative salt mines in Yerevan.


Wealthy entrepreneurs were also high on the list of candidates fielded by another major party supporting President Robert Kocharyan, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). The party teamed up with tobacco tycoon Hrant Vartanian as well as the owners of the Avshar liquor company and the Ashtarak Kat dairy in the run-up to the elections.


At least six businessmen are expected to enter the parliament through Orinats Yerkir, a pro-Kocharyan party that will likely have the second-largest parliament faction with at least 20 seats.


Petrol and cigarette importer Gurgen Arsenyan delivered the biggest election surprise when his hitherto unknown United Labor Party was declared by the Central Election Commission to have cleared the 5 percent vote threshold for winning seats under the proportional system. Arsenyan, who also staunchly supports Kocharyan, is accused by the Armenian opposition of buying his party's way into the legislature.


Allegations of vote buying have also dogged wealthy candidates who, as was the case in the previous elections, dominated in the 56 single-seat constituencies contested on the first-past-the-post basis. Money appears to have been the decisive factor in their victories. The government-connected candidates rarely held campaign rallies or delivered public speeches. They instead routinely distributed computers and other equipment to schools, paved battered streets, repaired buildings and even distributed fertilizers in their constituencies.


More importantly, many of them are widely believed to have bought votes for an average of 5,000 drams (about $9) on election day. The practice was reportedly widespread in impoverished rural areas.


Support of the several dozen businessmen not affiliated with any party will be vital for Prime Minister Andranik Markaryan's HHK which lacks an absolute majority in the parliament. The wealthy lawmakers, for their part, are expected to seek government protection and privileges that have always been vital for doing business in Armenia.


Source: “Armenia Now”, 30 May 2003


Azad-Hye Note: Congratulations, almost half of the deputies in the Armenian newly elect Parliament are wealthy businessmen (even those representing socialist and nationalist parties). Now that they have been elected or reelected to the Parliament, it is their obligation to show the Armenian Public, based on their own experience, how to get wealthy in a relatively short period of time. 

author-avatar

Posted by Azad-Hye

Like to share?

Social Media

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • flickr
  • blogger
  • youtube
Newer Post100th anniversay of the birth of Aram Khachaturyan
Older PostAn Armenian Journey by Rudy Brueggemann

POPULAR

item-thumbnail

Vardavar (water pouring) international festival in Armenia gains popularity

July 17, 2015
item-thumbnail

Rebecca Malikian’s novel “The Caravan of Death”

July 10, 2015
item-thumbnail

Erebouni pen launched in Dubai and other cities

April 12, 2015
item-thumbnail

Discrete Video Modeling for children with special needs in Armenia

February 23, 2016
item-thumbnail

Nana Aramyan’s art and her exceptional inspiration

September 12, 2015

LATEST

item-thumbnail

تواصل تركيا سياستها التقليدية بتبرير الإبادة الأرمنية والتهديد

August 11, 2020
item-thumbnail

«Իմ երազանքապնակը բազմազան ու գունեղ էր, սակայն չէի մտածում, որ երգիչ կդառնամ». Ուսկե Շաբաբյան

July 10, 2020
item-thumbnail

Գինեկոլոգիա. Ինտիմ պլաստիկան և ցուցումները

July 2, 2020
item-thumbnail

Ptit: Armenian language website for children and teenagers

June 20, 2020
item-thumbnail

Vartine Ohanian Minister of Youth and Sports in the New Lebanese Government

January 22, 2020

COMMENTS

Azad-Hye on In memory of AUB Medical Alumni who died during the First World War
Azad-Hye on Kessab Ousoumnasirats celebrates centennial
Lawrence Danny CPA on Kessab Ousoumnasirats celebrates centennial
Stephensmith on Pizza making vending machine invented by Puzant Khachadourian
ALEXANIAN on Astghik Voskerchyan: Every element in my environment has a role in my creations

Categories

  • Applications
  • Chinese Armenians
  • Cyprus Armenians
  • Egyptian Armenians
  • Ethiopian Armenians
  • European Armenians
  • Hrach Kalsahakian
  • Indian Armenians
  • Interviews
  • Iraqi Armenians
  • Lebanese Armenians
  • Music
  • Pan-Armenian News
    • Art
    • Books
    • Business
    • Celebrations
    • Courses and Camps
    • Documentaries
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Festivals
    • Genocide
    • History
    • Interviews
    • Language
    • Poetry
    • Politics
    • Tourism
  • Religion
  • Syrian Armenians
  • Turkish Armenians
  • UAE Armenians
  • Websites
  • Հայերեն բաժին
  • القسم العربي

CUSTOM LINKS

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Social Media

RANDOM POSTS

item-thumbnail

Rebecca Malikian’s novel “The Caravan of Death”

item-thumbnail

Հայաստանի 8 հրաշալիքները. Չորրորդ հրաշալիք. Նորավանք

item-thumbnail

Yerker Application for Armenian Music

TAG CLOUD

Armenian Art Armenian Catholics Armenian Christmas Armenian Costumes Armenian Genocide Armenian Songs Armenian Velvet Revolution Azad-Hye Celebrations Cyprus Armenians Daniel Varoujan Hejinian Diaspora Armenians Education Emma Kant Emma Karapetyan Ethiopian Armenians Garni Geghard Genocide Goris Greece Hidden Armenians History Iraqi Armenians Kessab Kessabtzis Krikor Jabotian Language Lebanese Armenians Meri Martirosyan Music Music Application Nana Aramyan Nikol Pashinyan Norway Ottoman Empire Paris Speech Therapy Syrian Armenians Syunik Turkey Turkish Armenians UAE Armenians Vardavar Western Armenia

Azad-Hye on FLICKER

© 2021 Azad-Hye . Designed by Wpinhands
Scroll