GOVERNMENT CANDIDATE MAY NOT RUN IN THE SECOND ROUND
Lragir
Feb 11 2008
Armenia
Negotiations are underway, and during those negotiations I have not
committed to making a statement, stated the presidential candidate
Arthur Baghdasaryan in a meeting with the representatives of NGOs
on February 11, who was asked if he may announce to join Levon
Ter-Petrosyan, especially after Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s tremendous
rally on February 9.
There was a negotiation on who will join whom, Arthur Baghdasaryan
said, noting that the negotiations continue. He says, however, he has
hundreds of thousands of supporters and also notes that more people
attend his meetings now than during the parliamentary election. If
among 25 parties we got 100 thousand votes despite election fraud,
now it is not difficult to imagine how many votes we have when there
are two or three main forces, Arthur Baghdasaryan says.
He said he thinks there will be a run-off election, and there is no
confidence whether the government candidate will be running in the
second round. Arthur Baghdasaryan is convinced that he will be running
in the second round, as to who will be his opponent in the second
round, Serge Sargsyan or Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Arthur Baghdasaryan
says time will show. He says he proceeds from the results of real
polls which they have at hand, unlike the results of different polls
ordered and released by the government. The presidential candidate
says with hundreds of thousands of supporters it would be wrong to
send people into uncertainty. Let us hold a real, independent and
unbiased public poll, and if my possibilities turn out to be small,
I am ready to join, Arthur Baghdasaryan stated.
By the way, he noted that most members of pro-government parties
today work for them.
Arthur Baghdasaryan says it is necessary to bring together the
opposition to ensure justice and legality of the election, and he
said in this connection that if they were alone in the parliamentary
election, now there is at least one force, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, who is
ready and determined to cooperate over this matter. The presidential
candidate Arthur Baghdasaryan also stated that they are ready for
any course of events, and they have a plan for any course of events.