PEOPLE’S PARTY OF ARMENIA LIKE OTHER POLITICAL FORCES QUESTING FOR POSSIBLE FORMAT OF PARTICIPATION IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

ArmInfo
2007-09-10 13:00:00

"Our party like all the other political forces in the country is
experiencing a stage of quest for possible format of participation in
the presidential election," Secretary of the People’s Party of Armenia
(PPA) Board Grigor Haroutunyan told ArmInfo.

The political forces are seeking to unite in alliances and nominate
a single-whole opposition candidate. The authorities also prepare
for the presidential election of February 2008. "PPA like any other
political force cannot remain aside of these process. We participate
in and initiate various meetings. However, the consultations have
not arrived at any exact decision so far," G. Haroutunyan said. He
said PPA has repeatedly came out for unification of the opposition
and nomination of a single-whole candidate for president in order to
restore the people’s trust. Asked if hereby PPA wants to correct the
mistakes of its independent running for Parliament, G. Haroutunyan
said: "The parliamentary and presidential elections should not
be compared. Parliamentary elections are specific for the 20-25
political forces participating in them cannot do it together. However,
the experience shows that unions running for parliament cannot be
amorphous. So, I do not think that unification of a great number of
opposition forces would give any result in the recent parliamentary
elections. "

In response to ArmInfo’s request to comment on the recent statement of
National Unity party leader Artashes Geghamyan that the president and
prime minister should be attracted to a meeting with the opposition
leaders, Grigor Haroutunyan said: "We can negotiate with them only
for they promise not to prevent fair elections. Discussions of other
issues with them would be illogic."