There is a holiday, pre-congress atmosphere in the Free Democrats Party. Although only 4 days are left till their congress, Khachatur Kokobelyan, the leader of the Free Democrats, assured today that their common list was not ready yet, they didn’t even know who would lead the list, “Raffi Hovhannisyan should lead the list, I don’t think it was too immodest of him that he stated that he could lead the list. I think that if we participate with a common list he should absolutely lead the list.”
In response to a question whether they had been negotiating for too long, since they hadn’t made it clear whether they would participate in an alliance or not, Mr. Kokobelyan said no, “Actually the alliances and common lists made so far have been formal, they have always aimed at one thing to participate in the election at that moment and to get seats in the National Assembly. People in the Free Democrats and the Heritage parties don’t want to consider such a task. My friends and I, party leaders, for instance, have never tried to take part in the process of getting seats. I assure you if we had had such a desire, we would have done it many-many times, including in the political force, members of which we were in the past. Our leaders have never longed for that during this period of time – the reason is not that they didn’t want to be represented in the National Assembly, but that it wasn’t an aim in itself.”
Mr. Kokobelyan also said that if they didn’t manage to make that alliance with the Heritage Party, it would be a loss for the voters and in terms of establishing a new culture on the Armenian political stage.
Both the Heritage Party and the Free Democrats have decided to necessarily have majoritarian candidates, “There will be electoral districts where we will endorse nonpartisan candidates or candidates nominated by other oppositionists. The opposition should show political will and jointly endorse various candidates.”
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Hripsime JEBEJYAN
