“The RPA is not constrained by anything,” Eduard Sharmazanov, a Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, said yesterday in response to a question of Aravot whether the RPA would be constrained, if Gagik Tsarukyan, the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader, announced his candidacy for the 2013 presidential election.
Let us remind that Naira Zohrabyan, the secretary of the PAP parliamentary group, said during a conversation with Radio Liberty: “The dominating opinion in the regional offices of the Prosperous Armenia Party is that the PAP should participate in the presidential election to take place in 2013 with its own candidate, and that candidate should be PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan.” The RPA will nominate its candidate at the congress to take place on December 15, Sharmazanov is convinced that the RPA is still sure that Serzh Sargsyan will be reelected: “Now, as well as before, we are convinced that whoever is nominated, he will struggle for the second place.”
In response to our observation that the opposition might rally around the PAP candidate, Sharmazanov said, “The opposition wanted to consolidate during the parliamentary election too. Besides, I don’t think that the whole opposition spectrum should rally around one person.” As for another question why one couldn’t rally around the opposition, if one could rally around the government, our interlocutor said, “The society has rallied around the government and the president.”
Nelly GRIGORYAN
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