ARF will hold its general meeting in the middle of September, during which the party will inform about its candidate to be nominated during the upcoming presidential elections. According to our information, ARF has suggested the president of “Grand Holding” company Hrant Vardanyan (one of his sons was elected in the parliament under the ARF party lists during the previous elections, and the other son was elected under the same party lists during the elections of May 12) to spend $10mln on the pre-election campaign of their presidential candidate. According to the same sources of information, Vardanyan has already agreed (maybe he has done it due to the fact that his two sons have been elected in the parliament and got a political umbrella due to ARF). Before the elections H.Vardanyan’s son, Karen Vardanyan declared his property worth of USD200mln. Accordingly, by doing this ARF will legalize its sources of financing from Armenia and as well as the financial resources of its candidate and thus will not be criticized in receiving financial support from abroad (which is prohibited by the Armenian legislation).
