DEMIRCHIAN’S PARTY DOES NOT RULE OUT ELECTION SUPPORT FOR EX-LEADER
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 10 2007

Stepan Demirchian’s opposition People’s Party of Armenia (HZhK) does
not exclude that it may support the election bid of ex-president
Levon Ter-Petrosian if the latter decides to run for president and
manages to build broad-based political support for his campaign.

The party’s secretary Grigor Harutiunian said on Wednesday that while
the HZhK can participate in the elections with its own candidate,
they would still prefer rallying around a single opposition candidate.

"Consolidation is the only way to wage a successful struggle against
this regime. Participating separately opposition candidates are doomed
to failure," he added.

The HZhK representative described Ter-Petrosian as a politician
with a proven track record who can become a presidential candidate
enjoying broad-based opposition support. He hinted at the presence of
Ter-Petrosian’s former allies in the current leadership who, he said,
"all know his possibilities."

While admitting many negative phenomena that dogged Armenia’s first
post-communist administration led by Ter-Petrosian, Harutiunian
said that "all the negative things that began under the previous
leadership have reached an unprecedented scale today, increasing a
thousand times."

"A person is of no value today, pervasive corruption curbs the
country’s development. They can now easily buy people’s votes," he
charged. "The parliamentary killings on October 27, 1999 happened
[under the current administration] and all those responsible for that
were promoted in office."