The application of the first foreign affairs minister of Armenia and the acting head of “Heritage” party, Raffi Hovhannisyan, submitted to the president’s office for re-considering the term of the Armenian citizenship was refused by a letter undersigned by the head of the president’s office personnel, Armen Gevorgyan. MP Stepan Safaryan has informed about this fact to radio Liberty and commented in the name of “Heritage” party. “The letter writes that the mentioned decision was based on the Constitution adopted in 1995, which didn’t allow to become a citizen of the country and at the same time be a citizen of another country. I think that the facts have been messed up. It also refers to court resolutions and states that such resolutions are in force (it concerns the case of 2003),” Safaryan said. Raffi Hovhannisyan was granted with citizenship by the order of president Kocharyan in 2001. The first FM expected that the citizenship would be granted as commencing from 1991. According to the Constitution, in order to be nominated for presidential elections, candidates should have permanently resided in the country during the past ten years and should present documents certifying that they had citizenship during the past ten years. Heritage party will make a decision on the format of its participation in the presidential elections during a meeting to be held in the nearest future.
