 Eye on the presidency? Orinats Yerkir leader Artur Baghdasarian
Orinats Yerkir was set up in 1998 by Artur Baghdasarian, a 38-year-old lawyer who is expected to be a major contender in the 2008 presidential ballot. It joined Armenia's governing coalition after making a strong showing in the 2003 parliament elections. As part of a power-sharing agreement signed by Kocharian, the RPA, the ARF, and Orinats Yerkir at the time, Baghdasarian became speaker of parliament, sparking speculation that he might be the Armenian leader's preferred successor. The speculation ended when Orinats Yerkir was forced to leave the ruling coalition in May 2006, apparently due to its leaders' growing recourse to opposition-style rhetoric and perceived presidential ambitions. It has been in opposition to the Kocharian administration since then.
Like the PPA and the NUP, Orinats Yerkir is represented in the election commissions. Despite last year's exodus of virtually all wealthy businessmen from its ranks, Orinats Yerkir appears to be the most well-funded opposition party, giving it much better access to TV air. It also boasts more organized and effective grassroots structures and, unlike other opposition forces, focuses on concrete socioeconomic problems facing the average Armenian. Much of what its leaders say is dismissed by critics as populism, though. But that has not prevented Baghdasarian from attracting considerable interest from the West. Not least because of his pro-Western foreign policy agenda.
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