Yesterday the chair of “New Times” party, Aram Karapetyan, who has recently returned form Moscow, said that he is going to run for president during the upcoming presidential elections. He also said that he was not going to join with anyone and participate in any actions organized by the opposition. Furthermore, he assured that if Serzh Sargsyan decided to run too, “he would compete with him in the second round of elections”, and if not, the elections would “finish just after the first round”. Concerning the first president, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, he said that he would not be able to get enough votes to compete in the second round too. Generally, the announcements Karapetyan made yesterday contained very interesting discoveries and nuances. The only discovery is not the fact that at the very beginning he refuses any cooperation and decides to become “Artashes Geghamyan-2”.
Yesterday the NT leader said that during the pre-election campaign he would “make sensational discoveries” concerning the illegalities of the authorities starting from the developments in 1992. At first look there is nothing surprising here since he likes to make discoveries. However, we think that the NT leader did not specify the words “starting from 1992” by chance. Probably he will join the campaign against the first president of Armenia implemented by the existing authorities in the future, which has involved some “tuned” opposition parties too.
Only you and me
The head of “New Times” party, Aram Karapetyan has arrived in Armenia and yesterday he organized a press conference, during which he made several targeted announcements.
First of all he said that he was going to run for president during the upcoming presidential elections of 2008 and added, “I am not going to join or collaborate with anyone. I will run alone.” It is worth mentioning that such behavior is characteristic to Artashes Geghamyan too, who said that their party was going to participate in the elections alone and would not be a part of any blocs. The results are clear. However, after such announcements Mr. Karapetyan said that it was good on the part of the other opposition parties to organize meetings and discussions. “If they manage to come to an agreement to nominate a joint candidate, I will be happy for that. As for me, I am not going to take part in such negotiations”, said Mr. Karapetyan suspecting that the opposition would be able to come to an agreement. Generally, Mr. Karapetyan seemed very confident yesterday. For instance, he surely said that “If Serzh Sargsyan runs” the presidential elections will consist of two rounds and he will compete with Serzh Sargsyan in the second round. The NT leader does not need the support of the opposition even if, as he said surely, he competes with Serzh Sargsyan in the second round. Mr. Karapetyan is sure that he will win the competition with Serzh Sargsyan and will become president without the support of the opposition. He also said that S. Sargsyan had contacts in Russia, but didn’t have the necessary potential. “In order to solve problems and use the contacts you have, you should often be there and solve problems. It is very easy to make contacts, especially in Russia. If you have money, you can make contact with everyone you want. You can just pay and have the contact,” explained A. Karapetyan, which in fact means that besides having good contacts he can solve problems too. The latter is going to go to the marzes during the pre-election campaign period and, as he said, “make sensational discoveries” concerning the illegalities of the authorities starting from the developments in 1992. The NT leader also said that he was going to publish information about the terror of “October 27”. He also said that he was even ready to prove all what he was going to say in courts. We wander where he got that information from. “The president has said it. I found it under the floor cloth”, said the NT leader. Mr. Karapetyan also said that according to the same sources of information, during the upcoming presidential elections in Russia there might be a big surprise and no one might want to become president and thus Putin might stay in office.
Just because
After the press-conference we asked Aram Karapetyan why he thought he would win notwithstanding the fact that his party received less than 3% of votes during the recent presidential elections. “Because we have certain information. We received 14%. I received 14% within 15 days… I hadn’t spoken for two years and just within 15 days I could collect 14% of votes,” said the NT leader. We told him that according to the official information, the NT had received about 3%. “Do you know what? Stepan Demirchyan received 63%, but they registered 27%”, said Aram Karapetyan. We are presenting to your view our further conversation with Aram Karapetyan without any comments.
– Do you believe you will be able to win?
– Yes, I don’t only believe, but I am also sure.
– You said that you are going to run for president alone and that you will not make any collaboration or negotiations with anyone. Why?
– Just because.
– Why just because? Can’t you explain it?
– No. No explanations. Political powers don’t have to give explanations.
– During the parliamentary elections the opposition took part with almost 15 separated parts and due to that fact they lost about 30% of votes…
– Do you think they would give votes to each other in case of joining? No, they would not. They couldn’t do that without making a joint list. They couldn’t make a joint list either; we wanted, but they failed to do it. I have participated in the meetings of that opposition for many times and I have seen that they are not able to do anything.
– Do you mean that there is no sense to discuss anything with those people?
– No, I don’t think it is nonsense. I think that during presidential elections people should have their ambitions. If they do, it is very good and they can struggle with us too.
– Why do you think that the first president of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan will not be able to compete in the second round?
– Because I think that Levon Ter-Petrosyan will not run.
P.S. Aram Karapetyan has said for many times that the next presidential elections will be extraordinary elections. To note, several years ago the chief editor of “Aravot” newspaper, Aram Abrahamyan made bet with Karapetyan concerning this announcement. Even though several months have remained, A. Karapetyan doesn’t think he has lost the bet. Thus, now we can bet that despite Karapetyan’s confident announcement and behavior he will not become president after the upcoming presidential elections.