Many people mention the name of Defense Minister Serge Sargsyan as the next president of Armenia. During briefing with journalists after the Republican Party session, Sargsyan said that he would run for president depending on the results of the results of the upcoming parliamentary elections, in other words, it depends on how many votes the Republican Party will get. Another candidate came into play after the last ARF Supreme Bureau meeting and that candidate is Foreign Affairs Minister of Armenia Vartan Oskanyan. During that meeting, Oskanyan made an amazing speech and according to some, the Foreign Affairs Minister is much more busy with his pre-election campaign than foreign politics.
After the ARF Supreme Bureau meeting, representative Armen Rustamyan said that the ARF will take part in the upcoming presidential elections by nominating a member of their party. However, it’s unclear as to who will be the candidate. So, it’s quite possible that the ARF will change its opinion after the National Assembly elections. But the ARF Supreme Bureau representative stated that the ARF will neither support Serge Sargsyan nor Vartan Oskanyan because “the party will represent its own candidate.” The ARF doesn’t want to support Vartan Oskanyan due to the fact that the latter doesn’t belong to any party. However, that doesn’t mean that Oskanyan will always remain non-partisan. In fact, judging from Oskanyan’s speech at the ARF meeting and his attitude towards the party, it’s possible that Oskanyan will join the ARF rather than “Prosperous Armenia” and some political figures are of the same opinion. I asked Armen Rustamyan whether the ARF would nominate Vartan Oskanyan if he enters the ARF, to which he said:
“The Supreme Bureau will decide that. I can’t say anything for the time being, but Oskanyan hasn’t applied to become a member yet,” said A. Rustamyan.
Vartan Oskanyan says that he doesn’t plan on joining any political party at this moment. In response to the question as to whether he was going to run for president, Oskanyan said that he didn’t want to talk about that now.
“It’s too early for that and I don’t want to talk about it. Focus on the upcoming parliamentary elections,” said V. Oskanyan.
As for his speech during the ARF meeting and his cooperation with the ARF, V. Oskanyan said:
“I have always been serious regarding the Karabakh conflict and other foreign political issues, but I have never talked about issues concerning the ARF.” It is worth mentioning that when Oskanyan was asked whether he would run for president a couple of months ago, he had said that in his opinion, he could play a role in Armenia’s development as a state and that only time would show.
However, both the foreign affairs minister and the ARF deny any rumors about Oskanyan running for president. At the same time, they say that anything is possible in politics and that everything will be clear after the 2007 parliamentary elections.