Heritage Party MP Responds to Accusations by Defeated Artashat, Ararat Mayoral Candidates

The candidates who lost in the mayoral elections in the Armenian towns of Artashat and Ararat (in Ararat region) are blaming the Heritage Party for their defeat, head of the Heritage Party parliamentary faction Styopa (Stepan) Safaryan told Epress.am Wednesday.

As previously reported, Artashat mayoral candidate Kajo Grigoryan (no party affiliation) on Monday complained of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun or ARF-D) and the Heritage Party representatives who, according to Grigoryan, in the electoral commission conceded their place to the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK). Ararat mayoral candidate Hakob Tovmasyan two days before the elections also stated that ARF-D and Heritage Party members had conceded their places to HHK.

“The unelected mayoral candidates are trying to blame us for their defeat — look at their risks. Why, don’t we know how they were elected in 2004? I am strictly saying that the Heritage Party representatives in the electoral commission have done no such thing,” Safaryan said.

Note, ARF-D Supreme Body representative Hayrapety Babayan, speaking to local daily Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”), refuted reports that his party members had ceded their places in the local district electoral commission to HHK, calling it “unnecessary talk” and a “method of blackmail.”