REGULARLY VISITED ARMENIA FOR THREE YEARS

Lragir, Armenia
Nov 3 2006

On November 3, 2006 the name of a candidate of president for 2008
became known at the Pastark club, who is the first to confess his
likelihood to be nominated. It is the leader of the People’s Party
of Armenia and the president of ALM Holding Tigran Karapetyan. He
announced that one of the goals of his political party is to nominate a
president in 2008, and naturally it is going to be Tigran Karapetyan,
because he states that the members of the People’s Party cannot
imagine progress of the political party without him.

Tigran Karapetyan says he will be nominated not because he does not
consider Serge Sargsyan a worthy candidate of president but because he
has his own ideas, which determines his intention. Tigran Karapetyan
says there are no legislative bars. He says he is a citizen of Armenia
since 1994 and since 1999 he is a resident. In this case, it appears
that he does not comply with the provision of the Constitution that a
resident of Armenia in the past 10 years can be nominated. Meanwhile,
from 1999 to 2008 is 9 years.

But this is not a problem for Tigran Karapetyan. Of course, this does
not mean that Karapetyan is going to break the law, althogh there is
no need to doubt that he will do this too if this will make people
happy. But for the time being, Tigran Karapetyan’s confidence has
another, a more legal basis. He says he is a resident since 1999 but
for three years he regularly visited Armenia.

"If I am a resident, it means I was here all the time, I lived here.

But I can leave and come back, if I am a citizen of Armenia. So I have
the right to be nominated, and if someone thinks that I do not have the
right, they can go to court," states the leader of the People’s Party.

Meanwhile, before 2008 he is likely to run for parliament in 2007,
especially that there are no legal, even theoretical bars. Tigran
Karapetyan says the parliamentary election in 2007 will differ from the
previous elections because today there is not one political party that
falsifies the outcome. "If formerly there were political parties, which
falsified the outcome, gave some of their votes to other political
parties, today no political party would agree to such deals, because
it has a problem, if it gives one percent to other political parties,
it may have serious problems in the parliament.

Everyone thinks for himself," says Tigran Karapetyan.

And he will run for parliament alone, without alliances. And he
excludes alliances because he cannot see a force in Armenia, which
is committed to their idea – democracy based on people. Karapetyan
says in the parliamentary election the possibility of reproduction
of the present coalition majority will be great, but this does not
mean that the outcome of the election is already clear. Nevertheless,
the president of ALM Holding thinks that we will see fewer political
parties in the parliament after the election than now. And if someone
tries to misappropriate the votes of the People’s Party, Karapetich
says he will go to church and light a candle. Of course, he does not
say for the enjoyment of the misappropriators or the contrary.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress