UNION OF ARMENIANS OF RUSSIA TO RUN FOR PARLIAMENT

Lragir.am
16 May 06

Ara Abrahamyan, the president of the Union of Armenians of Russia, is
likely to become aware of the home political developments in Armenia
to be able to answer the questions of news reporters. He stated this
May 16 to news reporters in Yerevan.

Meanwhile relying on the information he already has, Ara Abrahamyan,
nevertheless, assesses the home political developments as negative.

“A far as I know, I assess it as negative, but every political
party and every government is free to decide, and we must respect
their decisions and wait for further developments. Now we should
draw necessary conclusions; well, this one seceded, but what is the
next step going to be?” says Ara Abrahamyan in connection with the
secession of the Orinats Yerkir Party from the coalition.

The negative thing, according to Ara Abrahamyan, is that the coalition
came to an end. In fact, the leader of the Union of Armenians of
Russia, unlike the Republican and Dashnaktsutiun, thinks that with
the secession of Orinats Yerkir the coalition broke up. At any rate,
what happened was negative, thinks the Armenian businessman living
in Russia. “You know, if it goes on this fast, if the coalition
breaks up this fast, if a political party is ruined within a day,
there is nothing positive in it. This is statehood, but this is
their decision. The reality, the developments followed one another
too fast, and we need to take our time and give our assessment. But
it was their decision, everyone has the right to decide, of course,
all of them are smart people, they made a decision, and time will show
who is wrong and who is right,” says Ara Abrahamyan. He thinks that he
needs to find out first what, in fact, happened on the home political
arena. It is also a matter of personal interest for Ara Abrahamyan,
because the Union of Armenians of Russia is likely to become engaged
in the home political developments. Ara Abrahamyan says it is early
to consider if the organization he leads will run for parliament in
2007, but he says that their engagement is inevitable.

“Considering that over half a million Armenian citizens live in
Russia, and we have a Union of Armenians of Russia, we are supposed
to participate, watch or support. Of course, we are going to run
for parliament, we are going to have our proposals, debates. I often
meet with leaders of political parties and the authorities. We are
consulting, and we are going to make a decision,” says Ara Abrahamyan.

In the parliamentary election in 2003 he supported the Ramkavar Party,
helped the party to distribute computers to schools during their
campaign, but the Ramkavar Party did not enter the parliament.

Ara Abrahamyan may therefore have decided to run for parliament anew.

He says the Union of Armenians of Russia will decide the form and
degree of engagement, taking into account the interests of the members
of the Union who are citizens of Armenia, and the members who are
citizens of Russia, as well as the legislation of Armenia.

“We are trying to comply with the laws, because we know what
an election is, and what kind of engagement we should have. Our
engagement should not disturb the state of things, the peace,”
says the leader of the Union of Armenians of Russia. Nevertheless,
he says presently it is necessary to consider better things than the
election, drawing conclusions from what happened, and contribute to
the development of the economic and political sphere.