SARKISIAN CONFIRMS PRESIDENTIAL RUN
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
May 16 2007

Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian said on Wednesday that he will run
for president next year and is ready to form a coalition government
despite his Republican Party’s landslide victory in the weekend
parliamentary election.

In his first public comments to the media after the announcement of
the official election results, Sarkisian admitted being "positive"
about contesting the presidential ballot due in less than a year
from now. "The elections showed that our party got a serious vote
of confidence, and if the party decides so, I will definitely run,"
he said.

The outcome of the elections and its endorsement by the West gave a
serious boost to Sarkisian’s increasingly obvious plans to succeed
President Robert Kocharian.

Sarkisian insisted that the election results, dismissed as fraudulent
by the opposition, reflected the electorate’s will and said the
Republicans (HHK) will do their best to ensure that the 2008 election
is assessed even more positively by the international community. "We
are satisfied with the election results and have now an objective,"
he said. The objective is to make sure that our people and European
partners judge the next elections to be in full compliance with
European standards."

The HHK will have at least 65 seats in the 131-member National Assembly
and will be assured of the backing of several other lawmakers, putting
it in a position to form Armenia’s new government alone. But Sarkisian
said he wants his government to be as broad-based as possible and is
already negotiating with potential coalition partners.

"I have said that the more political forces are included in the
government, the more trusted that government will be," he said. "We
are ready to cooperate with any political force, with any capable
individual," he added without elaborating.

The HHK’s most likely coalition partners are the Prosperous
Armenia Party (BHK) of businessman Gagik Tsarukian and the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation.

Sarkisian, who replaced the late Prime Minister Andranik Markarian in
late March, spoke to journalists after securing the formal approval
of his government’s program by Armenia’s outgoing parliament. The
procedure was a mere constitutional formality that will allow the
current cabinet to serve until the newly elected National Assembly
holds its first session on May 31. Under the Armenian constitution,
the entire must step down on the same say.