Epress.am News from Armenia
Heritage Party leader Raffi Hovannisian (pictured) has withdrawn his candidacy in the upcoming parliamentary election in the no. 7 electoral district, where Armenian National Congress (HAK) contender Nikol Pashinyan; Samvel Aleksanyan, backed by the Republican Party of Armenia; and Vardan Vardanyan (no party affiliation) were also nominated.
The opposition party leader has said that these past couple of days his party initiated talks with HAK and the parliamentary opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun, or ARF-D), suggesting that opposition forces defend only one candidate in each electoral district (constituency). The ARF-D, however, rejected the proposal, considering it to be an anachronism. As for HAK, the Heritage Party representative met with the HAK representative (Hovannisian didn’t name names) and held negotiations, during which time the Heritage Party proposed they back a HAK candidate in the no. 21 electoral district; Heritage Party, in the no. 7 electoral district; and ARF-D, in no. 13.
According to Hovannisian, HAK rejected this offer, which is “a symptom of the opposition’s trajectory.”
“I understand that everyone has ambitions and an intention to support his own people. It’s never too late. I made a timely decision to withdraw my candidacy,” he said.