After the meeting of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Executive Body presided by Serzh Sergsyan yesterday, Eduard Sharmazanov, the RPA spokesperson said about the statement of the ARF, “The ARF has realized for the first time in recent years that it has no competitive candidate for president. I think that it is because the ARF is in a bad condition, since in the not-so-distant past, it was the 3rd political force and today it has only 5 MPs in the parliament.”
As for what the ARF comment on the RPA spokesperson’s statement is, www.aravot.am found out during a conversation with Artsvik Minasyan, an ARF MP. He responded in the following way, “I thought more of my colleague Sharmazanov, I wouldn’t like him to stoop to distorting the aims and approaches of the ARF statement. We said that the issue of persons was subordinate to main issues. Therefore, seven fundamental proposals that have been put forward are of systemic character and are not conditional on any person. The task of developing the country is in these seven issues and only after that can one discuss the issue of one’s own candidate. I think that Sharmazanov himself is convinced that the ARF doesn’t lack candidates, but we set the interests of the nation, the people and all Armenians above our party’s interests and regard them as more important for the development of Armenia. I would advise Sharmazanov and suggest that he not engage in such conversations, but sit around a table and have a serious discussion.”
And in response to the part of E. Sharmazanov’s statement that “in the not-so-distant past, the ARF was the 3rd political force and today it has only 5 MPs in the parliament,” A. Minasyan said the following, “My dear colleague is convinced himself that in case of such an election, if the Republican Party hadn’t been a force with political leverage, I think it would have shown much worse results.” In response to our observation that perhaps the RPA was already panicking, that was the reason why they made such statements, Mr. Minasyan said the following, “I wouldn’t like to characterize their attitude in such a way. On the contrary, I call on them to sit around a table and debate on the future of the Republic of Armenia and not to forget about everything, while defending this or that person. It is a path that leads nowhere.”
In conclusion, the ARF MP stated that Sharmazanov, being an adherent of Nzhdehism, should have been the first to welcome this attitude of the ARF.
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Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
