BAGHDASARIAN IN TALKS ON OPPOSITION PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
By Ruzanna Khachatrian

Radio Liberty
Aug 22 2007
Czech Rep.

Former parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian is negotiating with other
opposition leader on the nomination of a single opposition candidate
in next year’s presidential election, a leading member of his Orinats
Yerkir Party said on Wednesday.

But Heghine Bisharian, secretary of the Orinats Yerkir caucus in
Armenia’s parliament, did not specify whether this means that he
is ready to withdraw from the presidential race in favor of another
opposition hopeful.

"Negotiations are underway," Bisharian told a news conference. "There
are leaders, [potential presidential] candidates who are discussing
all possible options among themselves. I think that as long as the
negotiations are not over, it will be wrong to speculate about who
will yield to whom."

Baghdasarian, 38, is believed to have long harbored presidential
ambitions. He was viewed as one of President Robert Kocharian’s
potential handpicked successors before Orinats Yerkir’s 2006 ouster
from the ruling coalition that cost him the post of parliament speaker.

Orinats Yerkir made a worse-than-expected showing in last May’s
parliamentary elections, polling only about 7 percent of the vote.

Even so, according to official election results, it fared better than
any other opposition party. The ambitious ex-speaker may thus feel
that he would be the Armenian opposition’s most popular opposition
candidate.

"In our political field there is politician who can be compared with
Artur Baghdasarian," declared Bisharian.

Accordingly, Bisharian was quite lukewarm towards the idea of the
opposition rallying around former Levon Ter-Petrosian during the
presidential election. "If he runs, let those who are happy with
his track record vote for him," she said, indicating her belief that
Ter-Petrosian is not popular enough to win the vote.

The Orinats Yerkir leader also did not rule out the possibility of
Baghdasarian cooperating with some pro-government forces ahead of the
ballot. "If there are such changes in the run-up to the presidential
elections that will lead to new political realignments, we won’t
exclude anything," she said without elaborating.