SARKISIAN’S VICTORY IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION ‘INEVITABLE’
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
July 17 2007

Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian’s victory in next year’s Armenian
presidential election is inevitable, a senior member of his Republican
Party (HHK) said on Tuesday.

"The impending victory of the Republicans is inevitable," said Armen
Ashotian, who is also a parliament deputy. "Even though a democratic
process always requires the existence of alternative candidates in
elections, there is no alternative to Serzh Sarkisian’s victory."

"I think that even our most bitter opponents don’t doubt that and
that is the reason for their nervous behavior," he claimed.

The HHK is widely expected to officially nominate Sarkisian as a
presidential candidate at a congress scheduled for October. The
Armenian premier, who is also believed to be President Robert
Kocharian’s preferred successor, effectively confirmed his intention
to run for president following his party’s landslide victory in the
May 12 parliamentary elections.

Ashotian said that the HHK landslide is a key reason why he believes
Sarkisian will have no trouble winning the presidential ballot due
in February or March 2008. The young parliamentarian, who was high on
the HHK’s electoral slate, also pointed to the "political bankruptcy"
of Armenia’s divided opposition that fared poorly in the legislative
polls.

Ashotian made the remarks at a public debate with Nikol Pashinian,
an outspoken leader of the Aylentrank movement staunchly opposed to
Kocharian and Sarkisian. Pashinian, who is also the editor-in-chief of
the country’s best-selling daily newspaper, strongly disagreed with
his opponent, saying that Sarkisian can not win the 2008 election
without massive vote rigging.

"If by elections we mean a mechanism for the free expression of popular
will, I think it is very illogical to expect a citizen to freely elect
a person whom he, to put it very mildly, deeply dislikes," he said.

Still, Pashinian admitted that the opposition will have a chance of
preventing a repeat of what it regards as large-scale vote rigging and
defeating Sarkisian only if it rallies around a single presidential
candidate.

Aylentrank and several other opposition groups make no secret of
their desire to see former President Levon Ter-Petrosian return to
active politics and join the unfolding presidential race. However,
Ter-Petrosian’s would-be candidacy is unlikely to win the backing of
most other opposition heavyweights. Some of them have already declared
their intention to enter the fray.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress