Armenia’s Opposition to Have Candidate in Every Electoral District

At a meeting of its political council on Wednesday, the Armenian National Congress (HAK) discussed the format of the opposition bloc in the May parliamentary elections under the majority system.

“[The Armenian National] Congress is fighting together with other political forces to abolish the majority system and transition to an exclusively proportional [representation] system. But we also understand that if, nevertheless, the rules of the game stay the same, then we have to fight also in the majority system. So today’s meeting was dedicated to the format of our participation in the majority system,” said Levon Zurabyan, coordinator of HAK’s day-to-day affairs, speaking to journalists yesterday after the meeting.

At the meeting, HAK’s 18 member parties presented their capabilities and resources, and the information is now being gathered to provide a complete picture of capabilities, Zurabyan added. Afterwards, it will be decided who HAK will nominate in which electoral district.

Asked whether HAK will have a candidate in all 41 of the country’s electoral districts, Zurabyan said that they would participate in the elections as an alliance, which means that HAK has to nominate a candidate in every electoral district.

The HAK representative said the issue of forming a proportional list was not discussed.

At the request of reporters to comment on reports that HAK’s proportional list will be headed by first president, HAK leader Levon Ter-Petrossian followed by Stepan Demirchyan, leader of the People’s Party of Armenia (a HAK member party), Zurabyan said: “We can’t make any statements while discussions continue. There is no decided issue at this time.”

On the matter of the upcoming mayoral elections in the city of Hrazdan, in which HAK member Sasun Mikaelyan is a candidate, the opposition representative said:

“To our knowledge, the authorities have already begun to exert some pressure on people. People are threatened, fired from their jobs — these things exist. But the authorities have always resorted to such methods, but our fight will continue with the same momentum. Sasun Mikaelyan’s campaign headquarters is very actively working toward ensuring victory.”