The resignation of National Assembly Deputy President Arevik Petrosyan, elected on the PAP slate, wasn’t all that unexpected. The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) was demanding one thing from Petrosyan that the Deputy President of the inherent bureaucratic National Assembly couldn’t deliver – both personal and official dedication to the party. Arevik Petrosyan was not a committed PAP supporter. During the 2003 parliamentary elections, she was included on the ARF ballot. PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan was well aware of this. However, in November of 2007, this didn’t prevent Tsarukyan from proposing her name as a replacement for Ishkhan Zakaryan, after he was appointed president of the RoA Control Chamber. The question remains why has the necessity of removing her as the Deputy President of the National Assembly surfaced now. The advisory speech delivered a few days ago by independent MP Viktor Dallakyan on the topic of national benefactors was perceived within the PAP as an attempt to defame the party’s leader. Despite the fact that certain individual PAP members publicly reacted to the speech, Viktor Dallakyan was not subjected to any serious publicity pressures. This is very strange given the history of the PAP. Just a few months ago, the PAP “ripped apart” Ruben Hayrapetyan, a businessman and President of the RoA Football Federation, for criticizing their leader on a certain matter. The party also subjected RoA Economics Minister Nerses Yeritsyan to a publicity onslaught with similar fury. Yeritsyan had simply shown the courage to respond to the remarks of Tsarukyan blaming the Ministry for the tragic situation of the country’s economy. It is clear that the moral destruction of Viktor Dallakyan didn’t pose a great difficulty for the PAP. But the party didn’t take that path. One could imagine such a thing happening only in the presence of a third and more powerful interested force appeared from behind Dallakyan’s shadow. The comments of Gagik Tsarukyan’s press spokesman that they do not know from which direction “the wind is blowing”, clearly defined that the PAP was on guard. It reminded Gagik Tsarukyan that the demarche arising against the party in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections was ushering in a new qualitative stage. The threat from the PAP was real only to those interested in creating a monolith ruling authority – for the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) and the clique surrounding Serzh Sargsyan. The latter regards the 2012 parliamentary elections as a run-up to the presidential elections scheduled for 2013. In other words, it is necessary for the ruling party to come out of the parliamentary elections with such a representation of forces so that today’s members of the ruling coalition will have no other alternative but to support the candidacy of Serzh Sargsyan in the 2013 elections; so that any alternative candidate from inside the ruling circles will be ruled out. Everything is clear in regards to the Rule of Law Party of Armenia. Its leader, Artur Baghdasaryan, has long ago publicly stated that he has no intentions of seeking the presidency. Furthermore, in order to maintain its modest role within the ruling authority, the Rule of Law Party handed over two ministerial portfolios in its possession to Serzh Sargsyan as of May, 2010 – the Communications and Transportation Ministry and the Emergency Affairs Ministry. However, Prosperous Armenia and the Rule of Law are two different animals. Problems have always arisen in PAP-RPA relations before every round of parliamentary elections, giving rise to a war of words and a settling of scores, sometimes physically. But up till now they have mostly been “theatrics”; to present the PAP as a true oppositional force and to manipulate the electorate. Today, the situation is completely different. This time around, the PAP is deprived of the scenario of portraying itself as an oppositional force due to the presence of the HAK (Armenian National Congress) led by Levon Ter-Petrosyan. Today, in essence, the political struggle will be waged on two fronts; first between the RPA and the PAP, on the one hand, and on the other, pitting these two ruling forces against the combined forces of the opposition HAK. In case HAK really starts to get active, which does not appear realistic, both the PAP and the RPA can erect a joint front. But before such a development, a battle for positioning will take place between the two parties. The RPA will seek to diminish the political clout of the PAP, by slightly increasing the representation of the RPA and the opposition at the PAP’s expense. This is necessary to ward off any possible social unrest and to put to rest its question of legitimacy on the foreign front. To achieve this, the ruling regime will activate its entire arsenal of administrative resources and smear tactics, constantly focusing in on the disconnect between Gagik Tsarukyan’s economic oligarchic status and his benevolent works. The recent statements by Viktor Dallakyan were the first, albeit weak, shots in this salvo. For its part, the PAP will attempt to find avenues to withstand such pressure. Tsarukyan has no chance of cooperating with the opposition given that it would mean outright political and economic suicide for him. In the current situation, what would be demanded is that he put all his administrative levers under his control to serve the interests of the party. The resignation of Arevik Petrosyan is a step in this direction. What Gagik Tsarukyan wants to see at the post of the National Assembly Deputy Speaker, essentially a politically powerless position, is a weak administrator but dedicated party supporter. It is a claim to increase the level of the PAP political influence within the parliament, but it is unlikely to result in serious dividends for the party. Aside from this, the PAP will seek to find a support pillar outside, particularly in Moscow and a search has long since been launched in this regard; by making courtesy calls to Russian and Belarus ruling political circles. The essential aim is to present the PAP as a political force ready to serve as an alternative to Serzh Sargsyan at any given moment. And if this effort succeeds, perhaps then a serious PAP representation in the parliament will be ensured. In any event, this silent struggle for positioning has already begun and it promises to be self-contained; bursting to the surface in a series of intense nervous seizures.