ARMENIAN PAPER NAMES POSSIBLE CANDIDATES FOR POST OF SPEAKER

Aravot, Yerevan
18 May 06

Excerpt from Margarit Yesayan’s report by Armenian newspaper Aravot on
18 May headlined “Who will become speaker of parliament?” and subheaded
“Is Arshak Sadoyan an alternative to Tigran Torosyan?”

As a result of the re-arrangement of parliamentary forces, the vacant
seats of the Law Governed Country Party have already been distributed,
and they are waiting for Artur Bagdasaryan to officially tender his
resignation on 22 May.

According to reliable sources, the deputy speaker of parliament and
a member of the Republican Party of Armenia [RPA], Tigran Torosyan,
will be elected speaker of parliament. But people in the corridors
of the parliament predict that Tigran Torosyan’s candidacy will not
pass so easily because there are people in the RPA who do not want
to elect him.

If we take into account that the People’s Deputy faction and the United
Labour Party may adopt a decision to vote openly in this election and
that the opposition will not participate in it, a difficult situation
will actually come about.

But the problem is not limited only to Tigran Torosyan. According
to some rumours, the leader of the National Unity Party, Artashes
Gegamyan, and the leader of the National Democratic bloc, Arshak
Sadoyan, are also going to nominate their candidacies to this post.

Artashes Gegamyan denied this report yesterday and said that his bloc
will not take part in the election.

[Passage omitted: Gegamyan said he is not going to become a political
kamikaze]

As for Arshak Sadoyan, he has confirmed that he is going to nominate
his candidacy to the post of speaker. Mr Sadoyan is sure that an
alternative is very important in the current situation.