Applying to 4 political forces – the Armenian National Congress (ANC), the Heritage Party, the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP), and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) – Levon Zurabyan, the ANC coordinator, made an offer yesterday to jointly participate in the Yerevan City Council election. www.aravot.am has found out during a conversation with the representatives of the above-mentioned parties in what format they will participate in the city council election and whether they are ready to accept the ANC offer. Ruben Hakobyan, the Heritage Party parliamentary group leader, stated during a conversation with us that they welcomed that offer and went into detail: “If we unite, our movement will become stronger. We welcome the idea to jointly participate in the city council election. We, Raffi Hovhannisyan personally, have said that many times. Therefore, I think that all constructive forces think that joining forces is a must at this point.” In response to our question whether negotiations on this issue were in progress, Mr. Hakobyan said: “A negotiating process is currently under way, and it progresses quite effectively. It aims at rallying everyone around the movement.” Naira Zohrabyan, the secretary of the PAP parliamentary group, informed that the format of participation in the Yerevan City Council election had not been discussed in the PAP yet and added: “Let me not express my personal opinion on this, since it is such an issue that a personal opinion is not decisive. We will discuss the format of our participation in the Yerevan City Council election in the party’s political council and will make public our position. It will probably happen on March 11-12.” Armen Hambardzumyan, the alternate representative of the ARF Supreme Body, informed: “We haven’t made a decision yet. The discussions are under way, and I think the offer will also be discussed in that context. However, I cannot tell when we will make the final decision.” The ARF hasn’t discussed that issue with the ANC yet. In response to our question whether he deemed negotiations with the ANC probable, A. Hambardzumyan said: “We have our approaches and views; if we deem them adequate to those, I don’t rule them out. However,
we don’t have any clear position on that issue yet, also given the fact that the statement on behalf of the ANC initiative group was made as late as yesterday evening.” Lyudmila Sargsyan, a member of the ANC parliamentary group, stated: “If there is a possibility of broad consolidation of opposition forces, the issue of participation in the city council election will be discussed. That is the parliamentary group’s opinion. However, nothing is clear yet. If it is possible to participate with a common list of the whole opposition camp, then there is an opinion that it is worth participating.” There are opinions that the ANC made such an offer, realizing that this election would be risky for it. In response to this observation, Ms. Sargsyan said: “It is not so. We realize quite well that the most important elections for our country are presidential elections, during which the people are unprecedentedly active. However, we realized that there was no possibility in the country these days for the opposition to actually win. The opposition has always defeated the government in presidential elections. As for the city council election, it will also be an event, at which the Republican Party will once again score a victory. It is my personal opinion; there are also other opinions, according to which participation is possible in case of broad consolidation. As for the ANC, I don’t think there is any other powerful force in the opposition camp, except for the ANC.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
