Epress.am News from Armenia
The dismissals of high-ranking officials would be understandable if they were followed by pre-term elections, said New Times party leader Aram Karapetyan, speaking to journalists in Yerevan today. In his opinion, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan (pictured) has such an idea in mind.
But he, Karapetyan, would be in favor of early elections only if they are free, fair and transparent.
“But if they are held in the same way and Serzh Sargsyan, reproducing the [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili variant, again becomes president, by being elected or not, I am against that,” he said.
The party leader recalled the Armenian National Congress’ (HAK) demand for early elections, but said if such elections are to be held the same way as before then HAK’s demand is incomprehensible for him.
On the matter of the recent high-profile personnel changes, Karapetyan said one thing was surprising for him: why was RA Police Chief Alik Sargsyan sacked when the authorities were satisfied with his work?
That is, though there is no election campaign headquarters as of yet, there is a campaign manager and a campaign deputy, he said.
“These are developments outside of our logic. Why the dismissals? What are they tied to? Hovik Abrahamyan slept at night, then woke up in the morning and said, I no longer want to be the National Assembly chair. The country’s second position was less important than the position of head of campaign headquarters?” he asked.