Political analysts believe Gagik Tsarukyan's return agreed with Armenian authorities

The return of Gagik Tsarukyan to the political activities will complicate the situation of the Armenian opposition at the upcoming parliamentary elections in April, since the coalition created by him would "steal" voices of the opposition electorate. This opinion was voiced by Armenian political analysts questioned by the "Caucasian Knot".

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on February 12, 2015, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan withdrew Gagik Tsarukyan, the leader of the "Prosperous Armenia" Party, from the National Security Council, and Gagik Tsarukyan himself called on Serzh Sargsyan to resign. On February 17, 2016, Serzh Sargsyan and Gagik Tsarukyan had a meeting, after which the leader of the "Prosperous Armenia" Party retracted his statements. On March 5, 2016, the "Prosperous Armenia" Party held a congress, at which Gagik Tsarukyan left his post. On January 17, Gagik Tsarukyan announced his return to the political activities.

In his comment to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, political analyst Stepan Safaryan noted that the Gagik Tsarukyan's return to the political activities will change the political balance on the eve of the parliamentary elections.

According to Stepan Safaryan, the administrative and financial resources of Gagik Tsarukyan will seriously complicate the situation of the Armenian opposition, and part of the opposition electorate will give their voices to the coalition created by Gagik Tsarukyan.

"We observe the formation of a buffer to soften the radical sentiments in society. The past year's events have shown that our country has a huge electorate dissatisfied with the domestic situation. There is an urgent issue of votes that will be gained by the ruling party under no circumstances. And that requires a political force, which will ensure that those voices will not be gained by radical or uncontrolled opposition, since, in turn, if it gains them, it will be able to lead the electorate and that will result in another political crisis in the country," stated Stepan Safaryan.

According to him, the return of Gagik Tsarukyan to the political activities was not a unilateral decision. Stepan Safaryan believes that the politician gave a guarantee not to take steps to cause concern of the authorities.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.