APPEAL COURT RECOGNIZES ELECTION RESULTS AT CRU 17th CONFERENCE AS
INVALID

YEREVAN, JANUARY 31, NOYAN TAPAN. The Appeal Court of the RA on
January 31 satisfied the lawsuit of several members of the Presidium
of the party "Constitutional Right" Union (CRU), recognizing the
elections results at the SRU’s 17th conference on September 16, 2006,
as invalid. The founder of CRU Hrant Khachatrian stated at the press
conference on the same day that the court’s decision was a surprise to
him and his co-partisans. "This positive event was not part of my
personal plans and intentions," he said.

"After this court decision, we come back to the situation on September
16 when the conference was interrupted because of some discrediting
speeches," he noted. In his words, conference participants succumbed
to provocations and believed false information.

To recap, due to disagreements at the conference, the CRU Chairman
Hrant Khachatrian stated that he would resign and stop his political
activity, after which the Vice Chairman Hayk Babukhanian was elected
the party’s chairman. The court of first instance rejected the lawsuit
of Khachatrian’s supporters to recognize these elections illegal.

H. Khachatrian said that after the decision of the Appeal Court he
will try to make the party healthier. "A situation has formed when it
is necessary to put an end to lies, falsehood and violence," he
noted. In his words, a conference to decide the issues of the party’s
leadership and further plans should be convened as soon as
possible. At the same time he expressed the opinion that in the
current situation CRU will hardly be able to run in the parliamentary
elections. He did not exclude the possibilty of a split in the CRU as
a result of disagreements between him and Hayk Babukhanian.