ANC AND ZHARANGUTIUN REACH NO AGREEMENT TO RUN FOR YEREVAN COUNCILLOR MEMBERS’ ELECTIONS WITH A COMMON ELECTORAL ROLL

Noyan Tapan

M arch 17, 2009

YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. No agreement on running for May 31
Yerevan councillor members elections has been reached between the
Armenian National Congress and the Zharangutiun (Heritage) party
during official negotiations.

Deputy Anahit Bakhshian, the Chairwoman of the Zharangutiun (Heritage)
Board, reported to journalists on March 17 at the National Assembly
that at the meeting held the day before and lasting until the
midnight the Board discussed the variant of electoral roll proposed
by ANC. According to it, the candidature of Levon Ter-Petrosian is
in the first place and of Chairman of the People’s Party of Armenia
Stepan Demirchian in the second place.

Zharangutiun was proposed in total 8 places on the list, including
the third place.

According to A. Bakhshian, the party Board came to the conviction
that the electoral roll "does not reflect the party potential and
proposed a new, "more competitive" variant of electoral roll: head
of Zharangutiun parliamentary faction Armen Martirosian in the first
place, L. Ter-Petrosian in the second place, Zharangutiun founder,
NA deputy Raffi Hovannisian in the third place. ANC turned down
that variant.

In response to journalists’ questions A. Bakhshian said that they do
not consider not coming to an agreement a split, as in politics they
attach importance to principles and ideology. She also expressed the
hope that "public resonance will result in ANC and Zharangutiun again
sitting at a negotiations table." At the same time she did not exclude,
either, the possibility of oppoisition’s running for the elections "by
individual columns" mentioning that on March 20 the party will finally
clarify the format of running for the elections and the electoral roll.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress