COMMUNIST PARTY OF ARMENIA MAY BOYCOTT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

ARMENPRESS
Jan 16 2007

YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, ARMENPRESS: The Communist Party of Armenia
(CPA) is likely to boycott the February 19 presidential election,
its first secretary Ruben Tovmasian said today.

Speaking at a news conference Ruben Tovmasian said the party may revise
this ‘preliminary’ decision after all nine presidential candidates
finish their campaigning.

Tovmasian reiterated that his party will never merge with some other
Communist parties ‘because they all are far from ‘communist ideology."

In a related news the chief of the Christian-Democratic party,
a former prime minister and a former parliament speaker Khosrov
Harutunian, said his party will back prime minister Serzh Sarkisian
in the February 19 polls.

He argued that the prime minister and his Republican Party are the
political force able to resolve the most pressing problems of the
country and maintain political stability.

Khosrov Harutunian said also another reason prompting this decision
is the similarity of approaches towards resolution of many questions
of his and the Republican Party.