Yesterday in the framework of his visit to Syunik Marz President Kocharyan also spoke about the political development in the country and in particular the possibility of nomination of the first president of Armenia, Levon Ter-Petrosyan in the upcoming presidential elections. In this regard he said, “If he really determines to run once again we will have to remind of many of his past deeds.” Hours after this statement Levon Ter-Petrosyan made his speech in the Liberty Square.
“Of course the first president has the right to nominate himself; we don’t see any problem here. After the first President and the other candidates nominate themselves, we will think of our pre-electoral tactics. You know that we have never avoided struggle and we will not avoid it this time either. And of course, we will struggle for a good result. By the way, the first President will not be the main pro-opposition candidate, at least as far as the current studies are concerned. It is obvious that there are a couple of pro-opposition activists with higher ratings. And this will determine the tactics to be adopted by us during this electoral campaign. In any case, I don’t think that the attention in the upcoming electoral processes will chiefly be focused on a secondary candidate. After losing power, the Armenian pan-National Movement has participated in all the parliamentary elections. Twice it ran for election in the form of the Armenian pan-National Movement, and once – in the form of ‘Impeachment’ bloc. But the party elite were entirely involved in the pre-election process. I remember they received 1 per cent of votes in 1991 and 0.6 per cent – in 2007. In 1999 ANM got 1,1% of votes, in 2003-0,7% and in 2007-1,3%. These are the chances of the Armenian pan-National Movement; this is their rating. I believe it would be naivety to think that the people have forgotten the time period when the Armenian pan-National Movement was in power. If someone has forgotten it, we’ll remind him. It is obvious that the Armenian pan-National Movement bears responsibility for the economic collapse. Now they see the economy recover and probably think that there emerge new opportunities for plunder, and in that respect, they have a good appetite. I believe the problem is there. I see no other explanation. This is probably another reason they involve the first President in this struggle, with an intention to use this resource in some way. I am sure that our people will not wish to return to 1995-1996, with all the relevant consequences. I believe those years have left very bad recollections on many people,” said Kocharyan. The latter has also stated that he wasn’t going to “wash his hands” and stay away from everything after 2008 presidential elections. He didn’t give details on what he’s going to do. “There is one thing I can say definitely. Both the experience and the knowledge I have acquired will continue serving my mother-land. As their form, schedule and variant, time will show it. I don’t think it will be proper to wash one’s hands of everything and go aside. But there are different forms of participation. It is not necessary to stick to some ‘chair’ by all means.”