Representative of “Impeachment” bloc Nikol Pashinyan announced during the rally they organized on July 3 in “Freedom” square that they had reached agreement on running with one candidate during the presidential election of 2008 not only with APP and “Republic” parties, but also “National Unity” party. Pashinyan also said that they reached such agreement with the NU after their meeting with NU chair, Artashes Geghamyan.
Pashinyan said that the mentioned agreement was reached concerning three main points. First, there needs to be one joint candidate, in order to provide enough support for that candidate. Second, in this framework there needs to be a headquarter serving that candidate so that he can be represented not only as a candidate, but also shall have an office with specific programs. Third, these political powers shall reach a constructive agreement to reach those goals together.
This, in fact, means that the political powers have agreed upon the first two points already, which is that they have agreed upon having one joint candidate and an office for him. Accordingly, it means that the leaders of the mentioned powers have decided to give up their ambitions to run for president. During the rally, they said that they are going to take advantage of the quiet period of summer to negotiate and advance their cause, thus during this period we tried to ask for information from NU chair Artashes Geghamyan, first to find out whether he has really joined that initiative, and whether they have reached such an agreement with those powers, since no one has heard such a thing from him so far. Geghamyan refused to give an interview, and said that summer is not a good time to give an interview. We asked him at least to answer our question, to which he replied, “We have joined the nation,” and added, “There isn’t yet such issue in our party’s agenda, and we can’t say anything until September. Our party will hold a conference in September, and we are inviting you too. You will get the answers to all your questions there.” Based on Geghamyan’s words, we may assume that he hasn’t joined the mentioned initiative. Certainly, the NU leader, if needed, may say that Impeachment is a part of the nation too, but it won’t be serious. However, later it turned out that Geghamyan explained what he had said in just the same manner. Yesterday we also asked Impeachment representative Nikol Pashinyan to explain Geghamyan’s words, to which he replied that he would speak only after consulting with Geghamyan. Later, after he had talked to Geghamyan, he said that he stands by what he had said in Freedom square, i.e. they have agreed with Artashes Geghamyan upon the necessity to nominate a joint candidate during the presidential elections of 2008. Geghamyan told Pashinyan during their conversation that the announcement of July 3 was true, and that the NU still intended to join them. However, we wonder why Geghamyan keeps secret the fact that he has agreed to running with a joint candidate. Does he do that due it being summer? We also asked APP spokeswoman Ruzan Khachatryan the same question. She says that they are negotiating with the Impeachment bloc and Republic party about uniting and running with one candidate. “In other words, now the field is being tested, meetings are being organized, and political stances are being clarified. The APP, Impeachment, and Republic have clearly expressed their stance. We have said that each one joining this initiative shall be ready for not being that candidate,” assured APP board member, Ruzan Khachatryan. Answering our question as to whether APP is ready for the fact that Stepan Demirchyan might not be that candidate, Khachatryan said, “Yes, we have already announced that we find that idea very important, since the problem does not concern normal elections, but stopping the violence of the illegal regime and forming legal authorities. We find that it is better to struggle with a joint candidate. There is no tragedy in it.” By the way, Ruzan Khachatryan also reminded about how they were discussing the issue of uniting before the parliamentary elections and having one joint list. At that time there were rumors that the initiative had failed due to Demirchyan’s position, according to which he wanted to be the first one in the list and be the joint candidate during the presidential elections. “Those were fake accusations and were targeted against APP and Stepan Demirchyan. He thought it essential to have one joint candidate and said it would be absurd to have several candidates within one bloc during the presidential elections of 2008,” said Khachatryan.
By the way, yesterday NA “Heritage” faction secretary, Stepan Safaryan, said that the most serious challenge during the upcoming presidential elections will be Raffi Hovhannisian’s candidacy as an alternative. “Heritage” MP Vardan Khachatryan added that there are “no negotiations on the table or between the politicians and political leaders yet” on the subject of one joint or key candidate, but they will always advocate to form a broader field. In a word, while the other powers are discussing who the joint candidate will be or whether there will be such a candidate or not, “Heritage” is saying who that candidate may be. Based on this information, we may assume that the “Heritage” will not join the initiative to run with one joint candidate.