Alcohol, tobacco and bank lobby is already being formed in the new parliament. The importers, also well represented in the parliament, have their own interests. There are 4 representatives of tobacco production in the parliament: the son the owner of ”Grand Tobacco” company; executive director of the ”Grand Candy” factory; co-owner of the ”Masis Tobacco” company and the director of the same company. The most powerful is the alcohol lobby represented by: the owner of the ”Kotayk” beer factory; owner of the ”Vedi Alco” wine factory and the owner of the ”Great Valley” factory of Champaign wines, which produces the ”Great Ararat” brandy.
The financials are less. Among them – the owner of the ”Armeconombank”; former president of the ”Agrobank” and his several employers who entered the Parliament by the lists of the party created by him recently. Many domestic producers are dissatisfied with the fact that the positions of the importers have become stronger in the new parliament. Among the businessmen elected in the parliament are the biggest importers of petrol, cigarettes, corn, coffee, vegetarian oil, and spirit. Many of them have monopoly positions. It would be naive to suppose that they will not try to get use of the situation in order to create a tax regime favorable for the importers. Among the newly elected legislators there are also other businessmen engaged in aviation, hotel business, construction, tourism, production of non-alcohol beverages, sail of vehicles, procession of agricultural production, production of furniture, restaurant business. There are also owners of fairs, casinos and even strip-clubs.
It is interesting that the businessmen are elected not only in the single member constituencies but also by the proportional system. For example, the Republicans have given 7 seats to the business representatives in their lists. Sponsorship of parties becomes a rather spread phenomenon. It is interesting that the unofficial sponsors were among the first in the lists of some parties that have not managed to overcome the 5% barrier. For example, in case with the “Ramkavar-Azatakan” party, People’s Party, National-Liberal Union. The interest of the businessmen towards the politics is typical for all the transitional countries. The task of the authorities is to guarantee that the protection of the interests of the bourgeoisie does not lead to the infringement of interests of other social groups.
