“The decision has been made. We will be participating in the snap parliamentary elections,” RPA member, former Minister of Defense Vigen Sargsyan told reporters after the RPA Executive Body session.
Vigen Sargsyan noted that after being the ruling party for many years, the RPA has decided to make its investments in new ways. Therefore, as the opposition force, the RPA is prepared to use its accumulated experience and its team to help advance progress in the country.
He said that their team is a political one, which they proved throughout the events of the past several months. “The people who form the political seed of our party and who will be on our party list are not there because we were once the ruling party, but instead because we find that the RPA has a mission, an ideal agenda, which is in higher demand now. There is one claim to the opposition, and that’s from the RPA. If you want there to be two opinions in parliament, then you either have to vote for Nikol Pashinyan, or for the RPA.”
Regarding the RPA’s approaches to the parliamentary elections, Vigen Sargsyan said that the elections were too rushed. “This spoils the political process, and it didn’t allow many political parties to reformulate and plan their participation in a more logical and sensible way. It was easier for us to do that. We have structures, experience, and satisfactory institutes that will allow us to prepare for the elections in a short period of time. We will be participating in the elections with the understanding that the hastiness of these elections was due to the fact that the ruling force has society’s favor, especially after the Yerevan City Council elections. This is what the political count is based off of. We have presented our request to participate in the elections as the primary opposition force.”
According to Vigen Sargsyan, having an elected Prime Minister makes these elections the perfect opportunity to form an opposition.
Regarding the proportional list, Vigen Sargsyan said that he will be leading it, and continued, “Members of our political party will be on the list, as well as friends, representatives of other political parties, and candidates who don’t belong to any party.”
When asked if Serzh Sargsyan will be participation in the campaigns, Vigen Sargsyan said that he will not. He also said that Karen Karapetyan will not be on the list either.
When asked why the people should vote for the RPA, considering the fact that its government failed in all sectors, Sargsyan answered, “People need to trust the RPA because we were in power for many years, therefore we know all the details of our country and we have things to prove to the current authorities.”
Tatev Harutyunyan
