ARMENIA: OPPOSITION SPLIT OVER MAYOR’S RACE

EurasiaNet
March 17 2009
NY

Talks about a joint candidate list for former President Levon Ter
Petrosian’s Armenian National Congress (ANC) and the Heritage Party
have failed. The Heritage Party, the only Armenian opposition party
with seats in parliament, is expected to name parliamentarian Armen
Martirosian as its top candidate, PanArmenian.net reported.

At a March 16 press conference before the decision, ANC coordinator
Levon Zurabian dismissed Heritage’s chances. "The Armenian National
Congress is the embodiment of the Armenian opposition. If all
opposition parties unite . . . society will never accept [the]
Heritage [P]arty as a separate opposition force," PanArmenian.net
reported him as saying.

Ter Petrosian will head the ANC’s candidate list for the May 31
vote. The number two spot will go to former presidential candidate
Stepan Demirchian, head of the People’s Party and the son of Armenia’s
Soviet-era leader, the late Karen Demirchian.

Zurabian forecast that taking control of Yerevan away from the
ruling Republican Party of Armenia will give the ANC a key edge in
its struggle for leadership change, Armtown news site reported. If
the coalition is defeated, street demonstrations akin to the rallies
that followed the disputed 2008 presidential polls are a possibility,
he added.

"The election of the Yerevan mayor will not be just an ordinary
election. Rather, it will be a second round of the presidential
election," Zurabian pledged, news agencies reported.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress