RADICAL OPPOSITIONIST REAFFIRMS PRESIDENTIAL RUN
By Ruzanna Stepanian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Sept 3 2007
Aram Karapetian, a radical opposition leader, reaffirmed on Monday
his intention to contest next year’s presidential election, saying
that he will win more votes than any other opposition candidate.
Karapetian said he will therefore not join the ongoing negotiations
among other top opposition on the possibility of fielding a common
presidential candidate.
"I officially state that I will be nominated as a presidential
candidate and will not join forces with anyone," he told a news
conference. "I will go it alone."
"I welcome negotiations among all sections of the opposition. I will
be happy if they agree on a single candidate. But I will not take
part in such negotiations," added Karapetian.
It is widely agreed that Armenia’s fragmented opposition can mount
a serious challenge against the main pro-government candidate,
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, only if it rallies around one or
two well-known candidates. The lack of opposition unity greatly
facilitated the landslide victory of Sarkisian’s Republican Party
(HHK) in parliamentary elections held last May.
Karapetian, who has spent much of the past 15 years in Russia and
makes no secret of his pro-Russian views, disputed this widely held
belief, saying that the abundance of contenders will actually make it
impossible for Sarkisian to win the election outright in the first
round. "In my view, the run-off will be between Serzh Sarkisian and
Aram Karapetian," he claimed.
Karapetian also claimed that he will do well in the upcoming
presidential ballot not least because he has more campaigning funds
at his disposal than any other opposition hopeful. He said the source
of the money is his Moscow-based businessman brother and "very rich
friends" living in Russia and Armenia.
Official results of the legislative polls showed Karapetian’s Nor
Zhamanakner (New Times) party garnering only 3.4 percent of the vote
and failing to gain any parliament seats. Still, the performance
was better than expected given the small size of the party and its
lack of access to government-controlled television. Karapetian was
clearly buoyed by it, announcing plans to join the presidential race
immediately after the May vote.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) barred the Nor Zhamanakner
leader from contesting the previous parliamentary elections held
in May 2003 on the grounds that he had not permanently resided in
Armenia for the past five years. The minimum residency requirement
set by the Armenian constitution for presidential hopefuls is ten
years, meaning that Karapetian will not be eligible for the Armenian
presidency unless the CEC reconsiders that decision.