“The decision of the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) was not a surprise for me, because no one can say what will happen tomorrow. I consider all that as normal, very normal. Every political force has its calculations,” Lyudmila Sargsyan, an ANC MP, said during a conversation with www.aravot.am after the silence, commenting on the PAP statement. In response to our question whether those calculations corresponded to those of the ANC, she said: “We were not allies to make calculations regarding them. We had a similar wish and expected that it might be successful. It doesn’t mean that our calculations were based only on those calculations.”
We inquired whether the second part of the PAP statement that they would not endorse anyone was not unexpected, Lyudmila Sargsyan said: “What should they have said? Should they have said that they didn’t endorse Serzh Sargsyan, but endorsed Levon Ter-Petrossian? And what would have happened then? That is my assumption. I understand quite well that such a thing couldn’t have happened.”
Suren Abrahamyan, a member of the Republic Party political council, made a remark during his latest press conference that Levon Zurabyan had taken it harder than anyone else. In this regard, Ms. Sargsyan said that Suren Abrahamyan had been her colleague, she treated him with great respect, but “I don’t think that now is the time and the situation in the country is appropriate to quibble over each other’s words. I think we have a more serious problem to
solve. If we can achieve success in the general struggle again, I think it will be the most important thing at the moment, which the people expect from political forces. Activity, unity… I think now is the time for everyone to assess their own behavior.”
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In response to our question whether the ANC would be active or not, there were speculations that Levon Ter-Petrossian would not be nominated, she said: “There surely be activity. Serzh Sargsyan will have a very worthy and winning rival. I think that given this factor, all political forces that talk as an opposition, present themselves as an opposition should take into account some factors, and if they are the real opposition, let them understand that we should wage this struggle jointly.”
We inquired whether she wanted to say that this moment was vital for the political stage, Lyudmila Sargsyan said: “Yes, everything is divided into black and white again. Who wants to be among the white on the board should join the common struggle. Who will not join wants to solve other problems and pursues other goals. I think that now is not yet the time to make strong statements, but I think political forces should realize that the people are not that naïve not to understand who pursues what goals. If they are the real opposition and really want to be considered as such by the people, they should be ready to forget many things, disregard many things, give up on their ambitions and join our common cause.”
In order to clear up the issue of nominations, we asked whether she wanted to say that the expert in epic poems would not be Serzh Sargsyan’s only rival, she said: “Certainly, not. Our people deserve worthier candidates. I don’t want to underestimate our expert in poems, but I think he cannot wage a serious struggle and compete with Serzh Sargsyan.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
