The Armenian National Movement envisions a pivotal role in the joining of the opposition in the upcoming presidential elections, and at the moment sees first president of the Republic of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan as the only opposition candidate. That is what Aram Manukyan, member of the ANM administration, announced Friday at the “Pastark” club.
“The simplest reasoning, the most elementary calculation, and patriotism at the school level compel the opposition to unite and try to run in the upcoming elections with one team, one platform and one base,” claims Manukyan. In response to the question as to whether the ANM will play that game of uniting and if it is ready to participate in the consultations for that, Manukyan said:
“The ANM should not be looked at as part of the game, rather the one playing a pivotal role.”
He added that although they would be ready to unite under any one candidate, however at the moment the only person whom they see as candidate is first president of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan. ANM has announced several times that it is going to nominate Ter-Petrosyan during the upcoming presidential elections, and in response to the question as to whether Ter-Petrosyan has given his consent to run for president, Manukyan answered by a question:
“Have you heard the opposite? Have you heard the opposite from Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s office or from him?”
With that said, journalists recalled that when there were rumors flying around that the first president of Armenia may run for the vacant post of director of the Matenadaran, the office correspondents of Levon Ter-Petrosyan immediately announced that the first president doesn’t have such an intention. The deputy chairman of the ANM finds that it is possible to name 100 people who could be stronger than the “Robert Kocharyan-Serge Sargsyan pair” with the life they have lived, their capabilities and popularity. However, according to the speaker, only the first president can register victory. Aram Manukyan said the following regarding the possible candidacy of Ter-Petrosyan:
“What kind of process is taking place? Any serious, weighty activist must study the field, look at the possibilities, potential associates, and attitudes of allies and then make an announcement. We are doing everything we can to broaden the field. Unfortunately, at the present I don’t see any other person who can be strong, have a platform, is experienced, and unite even the opposing parties around him, the parties that have not worked together, and then win with that team and, most important, register victory. In that sense I value Ter-Petrosyan as having the most possibilities. If it turns out that he doesn’t run for president, we will try to find the candidate whom we can support.”
According to A. Manukyan, the opposition parties should have learned a lesson from participating on their own in the National Assembly elections, but “we are already mixing things up before the presidential elections by saying that the opposition parties have a greater opportunity to achieve victory by working on their own.”
Manukyan considers the National Assembly formed on May 12 as “dead” and a “misfortune for our country despite the fact that it is going to speed up the change of rule by means of its activities” because “if negative phenomena appear quickly in the country, they speed up the chances for change of rule.”
“Our parliament is only 10% healthy,” says Manukyan.
On Friday, Manukyan was also asked about the closing of the ARF and their papers during ANM rule. In response to that, the member of the ANM administration said:
“The Dashnaktsutyun and the Dashnaktsutyun papers were put to an end by the decision of the court for their activities, the results of which still exist. There are still people who are in prison for the charges, even when Dashnaktsutyun is in power. The charges are still the same even for those who are out of jail. The verdicts of the court remain as they were twelve years ago. I don’t consider putting an end to the paper publication and closing the party by decision of the court as undemocratic. If they were catching people with crates of hashish and narcotics while being proud of that…” “I have told Vahan Hovhannisyan straightforward, several times: you have the hammer, nail and courts in your hands. Take those people out of jail, change the verdicts against you, and justify them. There are people who changed the charges on rape. It was our fault that the trial didn’t reach the end and didn’t turn public, and out in the open, so that each person would understand why Kiro Manoyan and Hrant Margaryan were sentenced,” continued A. Manukyan and argued that today Tigran Karapetich and the ARF are serving the same purpose in Armenia.
“Being always in power, always eating off the plate of the authorities, using all the levers of the authorities, they have the function of stealing the votes of the opposition and mixing things up. They are going to do the same thing during the upcoming presidential elections. Each of them is going to raise its price,” noted the speaker, arguing that the ARF currently has three ministerial positions, with 30% of the state budget, and “they say that they are virgins; they became impregnated, but are still virgins”.
“Now, how is it that Dashnaktsutyun does not agree with Serge Sargsyan, if it is going to put the strategy and tactics of Serge Sargsyan’s government into practice? It can’t do anything else,” said Aram Manukyan. As far as “Heritage” and “Legal State” are concerned, according to Manukyan, those parties must have a clear position.
“Playing two-sided games, pleasing the authorities and saying that ‘we are the opposition’ is not going to work out,” he says.