TSARUKIAN PARTY VOWS ELECTION SUPPORT FOR SARKISIAN
By Astghik Bedevian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Oct 5 2007
The Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) of businessman Gagik Tsarukian, a
junior partner in the governing coalition, will be supporting Prime
Minister Serzh Sarkisian in next year’s presidential elections,
a parliamentarian representing it said on Friday.
Naira Zohrabian argued that nomination of a joint presidential
candidate was one of the conditions of the power-sharing deal signed
by the BHK and Sarkisian’s Republican Party (HHK) in the wake of the
May parliamentary elections.
"There is no reason to think that the coalition memorandum between
Prosperous Armenia and the Republicans can be annulled or revised and
that Prosperous Armenia will not support the Republican candidate,"
Zohrabian told reporters. "I don’t think there are or there will be
such prerequisites."
The BHK, which has the second largest faction in the Armenian
parliament, is widely regarded as President Robert Kocharian’s number
one power base. Kocharian confirmed through a spokesman last month
that he fully backs Sarkisian’s plans to succeed him at the country’s
helm. Whether the two longtime associates agree on what Kocharian
should do after completing his second and final term in office next
spring is not clear, though.
Unlike the BHK, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun),
the HHK’s second coalition partner, refused to endorse Sarkisian for
the presidency. Dashnaktsutyun is due to nominate its own presidential
candidate next month. It is expected that Sarkisian will instead be
endorsed by other, smaller parties that are loyal to Kocharian and
not represented in the National Assembly.
The Armenian opposition camp is far more divided, with several
opposition politicians having already announced their decision to run
for president. Those include Artur Baghdasarian, the former parliament
speaker and leader of the Orinats Yerkir Party.
A senior member of the other opposition parliamentary party,
Zharangutyun, indicated on Friday that its popular leader Raffi
Hovannisian also would like to have a shot at the presidency. "The
issue of participating in the presidential candidate with its own
candidates is not closed for Zharangutyun," Vartan Khachatrian said,
adding that the party will ascertain its plans at a conference
scheduled for early November.
Hovannisian was barred from contesting the last presidential election
on the grounds that he has not been an Armenian citizen for the
previous ten years, something which is required by the country’s
constitution. The U.S.-born politician, who received an Armenian
passport in 2002, considers that decision illegal, saying that his
citizenship applications had for years been illegally ignored by
the authorities.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
