Samvel Alexanyan Is The Next

Prior to the parliamentary elections, Serzh Sargsyan made a statement that the future parliament would host no businessmen or oligarchs. He kept his word only for his brother. The others appeared in the parliament.

Does Serzh Sargsyan want to get rid of the oligarchs? Many people may laugh and say that the oligarchs are Serzh Sargsyan’s support, and he cannot do without them. His statements on the necessity to eliminate the oligarchy are meant exceptionally for European ears since he is an indefeasible part of the oligarchic system.

In reality, Serzh Sargsyan would give all to separate himself from some oligarchs who lets him down. These oligarchs are in parliament not because Sargsyan wanted them to but because he has no levers to influence them. But he prefers to tolerate the presence of the criminal oligarchs in parliament, acknowledging that he is unable to resolve this issue.

The proof is Ruben Hairapetyan’s case who said the week before the deadline for nominations for the parliament that Serzh Sargsyan had asked him not to run for parliament but to deal with football, and on the last day, he said he would run because his friend Samvel Alexanyan had asked him to. In other words, he told that he was running against Serzh Sargsyan’s will.

Serzh Sargsyan hardly liked it so he did not miss the chance to dismiss Ruben Hairapetyan from parliament, making him apologize twice. In the criminal oligarchic world, apology is an expensive pleasure, especially when you apologize by means of a text written by another person.

Actually, Serzh Sargsyan who failed to compose the party list of the persons he wanted will continue to correct it by eliminating the unpleasant elements. The next, according to the logic, should be Samvel Alexanyan who is ballast for Serzh Sargsyan.

The internet is full of videos of Alexanyan coming up to journalists and asking if they have any questions to him. They say the mass media which are supported by the administration are instructed not to write about Samvel Alexanyan, apparently in order not to create artificial popularity. Now, everyone is waiting for Alexanyan will lose his balance to make him apologize three times and resign from parliament.

The civil society and Serzh Sargsyan certainly have different goals. If Serzh Sargsyan tries to get rid of the unpleasant oligarchs for whom he is not a “father”, then the civil society is fighting against the whole system. In this context, the fact that Ruben Hairapetyan has resigned from parliament adds to Serzh Sargsyan’s score.

All these resignations and apologies are signs of struggle for power which is not monolithic, and Serzh Sargsyan should possibly clean his team before the presidential election. The best instrument in his hands may be “compromise” and civil protests.

This does not mean that the administration supports or even “orders” civil protests. But Serzh Sargsyan uses them skillfully like in the case when he humiliated Taron Margaryan with a “paternal” air. In this situation, the civil society needs to find a way to use the sincere intention of Serzh Sargsyan to rid of some notorious oligarchs.