Armen Rustamyan, who heads the ARF faction in Armenia’s parliament, told reporters today that he saw a process of real change in the new government and that his party welcomes it.

“The new prime minister has launched a process of serious change. We can prove it because we are in it,” said Rustamyan, referring to the fact that the ARF is a junior partner in the government.

Rustamyan added that it was incumbent on the government to make sure that this process was targeted and that it should follow a precise line of logic so that it could solve the issues facing the country.

He did not specify what those issues were.

Talking about the recent local elections in Armenia, Rustamyan said that while the ARF was disappointed with its results it did not consider them a failure since, when compared to previous elections, the party fielded a larger number of candidates.

He pointed to elections in Gyumri and Vanadzor, describing them as unprecedented in terms of competitiveness. This, Rustamyan observed, was a positive tendency.

When a reporter asked if Hovsep Simonyan, the ARF provincial governor of Shirak, would be the next to get the axe following the dismissal of Syunik governor Surik Khachatryan, given that Simonyan failed to “get out the vote” for the ARF, Rustamyan replied that provincial governors aren’t appointed just to bolster the vote for this or that party.

“On numerous occasions we have said that the role of the provincial governor isn’t to guarantee votes for his party,” Rustamyan said, adding that the ARF wants to put an end to such practices.