STEPAN DEMIRCHIAN: BY DECIDING NOT TO SUPPORT L. TER-PETROSIAN,
CANDIDATES PLAY INTO HANDS OF S. SARGSIAN

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 8, NOYAN TAPAN. The rally initiated by the first
Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrosian and his supporters on December 8
started with a one-minute silence in memory of the 1988 Spitak
earthquake victims.

The chairman of People’s Party of Armenia Stepan Demirchian stated that
many of the political figures, who have submitted bids on participation
in the 2008 presidential election struggle, would have behaved more
correctly if they had openly supported the candidate of the authorities
because by deciding not to support L. Ter-Petrosian and to participate
in the elctions on their own, they play into hands of this candidate.
According to S. Demirchian, some unknown persons are spreading leaflets
with false comments on the October 27 events among rally participants
and advised to stop these actions, otherwise, in his words, "the
authorities will prove by this that they are behind the October 27
assassins."

In his speech the former Armenian foreign minister Alexander Arzumanian
stated that some figures of Armenia’s inner political fiedl are guided
by the principle "you open a fair, I found a party", and parties are
mainly founded with the aim of gaining a financial benefit. As A.
Arzumanian put it, one of such "party chiefs" is the leader of the
"National Unity" party Artsahes Geghamian who did not support S.
Demirchian in 2003, while in 1998, he did not support Karen Demirchian
– by his inert position, he prevented the success of the popular
struggle in those years. Another political figure – Vazgen Manukian, in
the words of A. Arzumanian, "cannot stand above his personal feelings".

The head of the Marxist Party David Hakobian in his speech appealed to
the "biblical Armenian people", asking its "political blessing" and
said that the motto of the struggle led by L. Ter-Petrosian is "total
capitulation of the Artsakh vikings".