Lragir, Armenia
Dec 27 2007

THE FIVE WHO TRUST ONE ANOTHER

Shavarsh Kocharyan, Hrant Khachatryan, Arshak Sadoyan and Samvel
Shahinyan reasserted their decision to support Vazgen Manukyan in the
presidential election in a news conference on December 27. They said
it is determined by joint struggle, common approaches shaped during
this struggle. Vazgen Manukyan stated that they are for a national
democratic state and are ready and determined to pursue this path but
their success will depend on their ability to bring together the
society around their ideas. Vazgen Manukyan said the inner compulsion
of their team to have a normal state in future is the strongest and
it matches the expectations of the population.

Vazgen Manukyan said they do not have controversies with any other
candidate except for the government candidate regarding a free and
fair election. According to the leader of the National Democratic
Union, if people believe there is a force which leads the society
along a track, the government cannot have its resource of electoral
fraud work. `If people are dissatisfied, the resource will work, and
you cannot prevent it. In this sense I do not expect a free, fair and
transparent election. None of the previous elections has been such
but I believe that if people come together around ideas which
everyone bears inside, and are united, those methods will hardly
produce the same effect as before,’ Vazgen Manukyan says.

He says the government will naturally try to solve the problem in the
first round because in the second round it will become more
complicated. `It is clear what the government wants. If the
opposition comes together like in 1996, I am sure that the opposition
will win the first round. If it does not take place, each opposition
candidate will scribe off some votes from the government, and we will
run in the second round. In other words, either we come together to
win in the first stage, like in 1996, or we collaborate to guarantee
the results of the election and win the second round,’ says the
leader of the NDU.

The leader of the NDU says since the forces which support him and he
expect to win the first round, they are not considering the option of
supporting another candidate in the second round. According to Vazgen
Manukyan, victory is not sufficient, it is important that the new
government serve the society and not some group. `Therefore,
negotiations are ahead. And now it is time to see what each offers to
the society. We all five have confidence in one another that we
pursue the goals we are facing. We cannot speak for the others,
either we are mistaken or we misunderstand them, or they are not what
they appear to be, therefore I would not like to specify the
persons,’ Vazgen Manukyan says.