The party will either participate in the elections separately or with other opposition forces. Demirchyan did not rule out the possibility of cooperation with Legal State and the National Unity. “We are ready for cooperation if Legal State declares that it is part of the opposition,” he said, adding that they already cooperate with this party. The PPA convention originally planned for this month has been postponed due to, what the party’s leader describes as technical reasons. Demirchyan also praised the idea of all prominent opposition leaders to have their nominations in single-mandate constituencies, but added that it is also important for opposition leaders to concentrate on working for the benefit of their parties. The oppositionist accused different wings of power for already using administrative resources and channeling part of their illicit profits for influencing political processes in the country. “There is pressure on journalists as well. The government makes employees of different sectors Republican and now they are moving to the tax and customs sector,” he said. According to him the PPA will do what it has always done during elections. “We are going to do everything better, more organized and more efficiently,” he mentioned. Demirchyan also spoke about the outside influences on elections in Armenia. “One cannot underestimate the factor of outside influence such as USA and Russia, on the elections, but let’s not overestimate it either,” Demirchyan said, adding that his party will rely only on the Armenian people and will participate in the elections to win. Mr. Demirchyan is sure that the authorities could have organized free and fair elections even without the amendment in the electoral code, in case of showing enough political will. The leader of the People’s Party claimed that any form of combat except bloodshed is acceptable for them in order to free the country from the present authorities. The journalists also tried to find out what can unite Demirchyan and Serge Sargsyan for the sake of the bright future of Armenia. “Nothing at all. There cannot be any possibility like that. Let the current authorities leave, for the sake of the bright future of Armenia”, Stepan Demirchyan said. Was there any ideological difference between the RPA and the PPA, who are currently opponents? Let’s remember that only seven years ago the mentioned parties were united in one bloc, called “Unity” during the 1999 parliamentary elections. Demirchyan said that of course there is an ideological difference. That’s the reason why his party became opposition. Does this mean that the founder of the PPA, Karen Demirchyan, made anti-ideological alliance with the RPA? “No this means that later the “Unity” alliance just got distracted. In 1999 the process may not be called anti-ideological alliance. It was a unity of two outstanding leaders, which was done for the sake of the people,” said Demirchyan.
