The anticorruption council set up last month by President Robert Kocharian held its first meeting on 2 July, at which members decided to set up a \"monitoring commission\" tasked with studying the issue and drafting relevant proposals, RFE/RL\'s Armenian Service reported on 5 July. Council chairman Bagrat Yesayan told RFE/RL he would welcome the participation in the council of opposition representatives, arguing that their refusal to do so would be tantamount to \"plunging into populism.\" But Artashes Geghamian, chairman of the opposition National Accord Party, dismissed the council outright as a \"farce,\" saying that the present authorities are themselves mired in corruption and any attempt to combat corruption should begin with the election of a new leadership. (RFE/RL)