At the ANC convention, Levon Ter-Petrossian stated the following about Raffi Hovhannisyan: “I don’t want to say anything mocking or negative about Raffi; it is not right to reprehend someone in this way while that person is at the barricades. However, when they ask why we don’t join, I say that we are the only political force that has clearly expressed its opinion that the winner is Raffi, not Serzh Sargsyan. From the political perspective, this was the biggest support an opposition party that didn’t have a very good relationship with the Heritage Party could give. The majority of our activists have always been in the square. A half of the square has always been the Congress’s activists. They ask why the leadership hasn’t come. In this regard, there is a very modern question that has been put into use by Serzh Sargsyan – what should I join for, should I join to pray with Vova? Just say you know, praying with Vova was not my childhood dream. However, we are still ready to support the Heritage Party. We didn’t have aspirations at that time either; we could participate in the election with a common list.” www.aravot.am inquired during a conversation with representatives of various political forces whether this relationship between the two above-mentioned players in the opposition camp would eventually lead to the opposition’s victory. Tigran Urikhanyan, the spokesman for the Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and a member of the PAP parliamentary group, said the following regarding this issue: “It will be praiseworthy, if they cooperate with each other to achieve common goals, for example, to ensure that the election in Yerevan is transparent, without problems,
violations, to organize a normal voting process. I would like them to cooperate on specific issues. I never make assumptions, being restrained by my professional duties, and I want to hope that everything will be all right in terms of the quality of the election.” Arsen Hambardzumyan, an alternate representative of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Supreme Body in Armenia, also linked the question with the Yerevan City Council election and went into detail: “We have already had opportunities to express our position on this issue, and I think that the Yerevan City Council election is a good opportunity and possibility to eliminate the current political monopoly and to form an opposition coalition. If no opposition political force is able to get 40+1, there will be a possibility to have an opposition mayor, forming a joint coalition. We think it is realistic and intend to take proper steps in that direction.” Artak Zakaryan, the chairman of the National Assembly foreign relations commission, is not sure that the opposition forces in our country wish to unite. Then he added: “I think that exchanging certain messages in the opposition camp doesn’t include elements of cooperation or unity, since there have been many such cases in the past when the opposition tried to put up a struggle using different methods, but the split, discord, and mistrust toward each other have always been obvious. Society has given its best assessment, and it is clear that Raffi’s actions were not proportionate to the demands of the opposition camp, opposition electorate. And frankly speaking, one can give different interpretations as to whether Ter-Petrossian’s observation is in accordance with the opposition groups’ expectations. I am not sure whether the opposition wishes to unite or to act jointly. I think there still is a problem with opposition forces’ maturity in our country. There is opposition, but there are no opposition political forces that can adequately represent the opposition electorate’s interests and wishes.”
Tatev HARUTYUNYAN
