Republican Party of Armenia established around 1991, just before the Independence of Armenia from the USSR could be considered as a nationalist party with a market-capitalist ideology. As such it could be classified as a conservative rightist force which is also very supportive of the current president of Armenia, Robert Kocharyan. The top position acquired by them from few years back till now is the post of Prime-Ministr of Armenia, currently held by Andranik Markaryan. Republican Party of Armenia also holds 40 seats in the newly elected Armenian Parliament of 131 deputies.
Orinats Erkir (Law-Based State) of Armenia established in 1998, could be considered as a nationalist party with a market-socialist ideology, however, unlike Republican Party of Armenia, it could be considered as a centrist right force. The highest position currently acquired by the LSP is the post of the Parliament Speaker held by its leader Artur Bagdasaryan. As a political party, LSP despite some of its criticism of the ruling authorities is also supportive of the current President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. Orinats Erkir holds 23 seats in the Armenia's Parliament.
The third strongest political party in the Armenia's Parliament is the ARF-Dashnaktsutiyun. Established back in 1890 as a nationalist organization Dashnaktsutiyun had played a great role in the Armenian history and since then has maintained strong and influential presence in the Armenian Diaspora. ARF was re-established in the independent Republic of Armenia back in 1990s. ARF is a socialist party, and as such could be considered as leftist force. The highest post acquired and retained by the ARF is the position of the Chief Presidential Advisor held by one of its leaders, Vahan Hovhanessyan. ARF holds 12 seats in the Armenia's Parliament.
Armenia's political opposition that holds 26 seats in the Armenia's Parliament became the minority in the newly elected legislative body. Armenia's political opposition is lead by the Justice Block (uniting half a dozen political parties under the leadership of Stephan Demirchyan with 17 seats in the Parliament) and National Unity Party (with 9 seats in the Parliament lead by Artashes Geghamyan). As such, they have boycotted parliamentary elections and filed a law suit at the Armenia's Supreme Court to challenge the Parliamentary election results. However, the Supreme Court of Armenia upheld the most of elections results while ordering only several re-elections in several electoral precincts, which again brought defeat to the opposition candidates.
Having no luck changing the political situation created after the Parliamentary Elections, opposition promised to organize new actions in this regard later in fall of 2003, while reconciliating with the current results of the elections for now. Since hot summer has begun in Armenia, most parliamentarians have taken vacation. Later on, in the beginning of August, parliamentary works will restart and so will begin new political developments in Armenia.
New Parliamentary elections in Armenia also brought changes to the Executive body of Armenia. Robert Kocharyan's administration has retained its influence over the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice, while the Republican Party of Armenia has acquired 6 ministerial portfolios. Furthermore, the Orinats Yerkir party has acquired the ministerial portfolios of culture, education, science and urban development. Unlike others, the ARF will have the ministries of agriculture, health and social security.
In our view, Armenian opposition will not succeed in challenging the current authorities or remaking the Armenia's Parliament. According to various reports from the Armenia's media sources, opposition lacks any formulated plan for revitalizing the Armenia's economy, reforming the Armenian judicial system or improving the public services, particularly pensions. Armenia's opposition is also lacking of constructive ideas meant to find viable ways to balance public budget, diminish the national debt and increase the Armenia's GDP.
Therefore, we think that whatever current authorities would decide to implement, and what the ruling majority in the parliament agrees upon will be the way that political and socio-economical developments in Armenia will occur. As of the opposition, they will not be able to do much significant; therefore, we do not anticipate any major events in that regard.