YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–"I view the May 30 parliamentary elections as quite normal. It was the first time we enabled the people to make their choice," Khosrov Haroutiunian–the speaker of the outgoing parliament–told reporters Monday.
Haroutiunian feels optimistic about Armenia’s chances to acquire Council of Europe membership. The Political Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly will address the results of the May 30 parliamentary elections in Armenia late this year–with positive commen’s expected. "Anyway–the preliminary report seems to be tuned to this," the ex-speaker observed.
Commenting on the defeat of the right-wing forces in the parliamentary elections–Haroutiunian expressed the opinion that the right-wing forces had lost well before the elections through their own fault.
As for the work of the government during the last year–Haroutiunian said that it proceeded in rather difficult conditions.
Haroutiunian would not dramatize his defeat in the parliamentary elections. Although he has not received any formal job offers yet but he expects what he called "the most likely variants" in the future. The ex-speaker will stay in politics–yet he finds it premature to speak of affiliation with any party: "further political developmen’s will bring clarity into his further action."