OPPOSITION LEADER SET TO RUN IN ARMENIAN REPEAT PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

Arminfo
18 Jun 07

Yerevan, 18 June: The leader of the opposition Heritage party and
head of the party’s parliamentary faction, Raffi Hovhannisyan, has
unexpectedly put forward his candidacy to run in the repeat election to
Armenia’s fourth National Assembly in the 15th single-seat constituency
in Aragatsotn Region.

The decision was made at the party’s board late on Saturday [16
June] night.

"Our party is not going to look on the developments in the republic or
in an individual single-seat constituency. Hovhannisyan’s nomination
is the best way of mobilizing the party to achieve a specific goal,
even not a major one. Especially as we have the task to bolster our
party’s parliamentary faction and its regional bodies, in particular
in Aragatsotn Region," the press secretary of the Heritage party,
Hovsep Khurshudyan, told Arminfo.

[Passage omitted: Hovhannisyan did not run in single-seat constituency
during the 12 May election]

The decision to hold a repeat election in the 15th constituency in
Aragatsotn Region was made after the winner in the [12 May] general
election, candidate from the [governing] Republican Party of Armenia
Khachik Manukyan, rejected his mandate and decided to run again to
settle disputes over his victory over a Prosperous Armenia party
candidate by a narrow margin. The repeat election will be held on
26 August in accordance with the decision of the Armenian Central
Electoral Commission.