IN THE REFLECTIONS OF THE HERITAGE PARTY
Lragir
Jan 24 2008
Armenia
The decision of the Heritage Party to support one of the presidential
candidates remains in the focus of the media and the most part of the
society. This issue was touched upon on January 24 at the Hayeli Club
where the spokesman for the Heritage Party and Member of Parliament
Zaruhi Postanjyan, Heritage Party, were hosted.
They think none of the candidates, not even the government candidate,
stand a chance to win in one round. If the candidate of the government
wins the election in one round, the Heritage Party will consider
the election as false. The Heritage Party calls the opposition, at
least two candidates, to unite to win the first round or to oppose to
election fraud in the first round. The party has released a message
that if no unification takes place in the first round, the Heritage
Party may delay its decision to support a candidate.
The Heritage Party had appealed to Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Vazgen
Manukyan, Arthur Baghdasaryan and the ARF Dashnaktsutyun for
unification with whom it had negotiated cooperation over the
presidential election. "It is time for fundamental changes, for the
opposition to have a united front in the first round because there
is danger that the parliamentary election may repeat, and the votes
will be wasted. In that case, we may draw conclusions that the wish
of the opposition candidates for a fundamental victory is not great,
and everyone aspires to it on their own which is not realistic. It
is possible that in that case we will wait for the second round,
considering also the moods of the public," Hovsep Khurshudyan says.
He said the ranks of the Heritage Party are not inclined to support
a particular candidate, and this is another circumstance which
complicates the decision of the party. "Since there is no considerable
support for one particular candidate inside the party, the problem of
the party leadership becomes complicated because we want to maintain
unity among the ranks of the party, and certain activities inside the
party are required before making a sudden decision," says the speaker
of the Heritage Party. He also said the opinions of the leadership
and the ranks differ. However, Hovsep Khurshudyan spoke about the
approach of the ranks only, saying that there are supporters of
Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Vazgen Manukyan, Arthur Baghdasaryan and Vahan
Hovanisyan. By the way, Hovsep Khurshudyan says they think the ARF
Dashnaktsutyun has a major opposition potential.
He said there is little possibility that the opposition will come
together in the first round, therefore the Heritage Party may
not make any decision in the second round as well, and may advise
the ranks to vote out of their conscience, which has already been
practiced in the political processes in Armenia. "I think there is
little possibility. However, I am not authorized to rule out such
an option because in any case it is a decision that the board of the
party makes which has been authorized by the conference and enlarged
council of the party to make decisions in accordance with political
expediency. Therefore, I do not want to rule out but I think it is
hardly possible. I think in the second round we will support the
opposition candidate running in the second round," Hovsep Khurshudyan
says.