YEREVAN. – ARF Dashnaktsutyun party comes in order to return power to the nation, the head of ARFD’s parliamentary group Vahan Hovhannisyan announced during the party’s meeting on Liberty Square in Yerevan on Tuesday.

“We did not come to take the power by force or bye it with bribe like others do. We did not come to beg for the power. We came to take what belongs to us according to the Constitution – the power. We want to return the power to you. They took the power from us taking advantage of our weaknesses,” Vahan Hovhannisyan mentioned. “The revolutionary spirit is not in screams and noise. Even political people announced that our last program was the best and the most real. This is it, the real revolutionary spirit. If we manage to make it a part of our lives with your help, then not the coming generation but you too will witness the revolution.”

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun is one of the oldest Armenian political parties. It was founded in the end of 19th century.

Following the Sovietization of Armenia in 1920, the ARF-Dashnaktsutyun was banned by the Communists and its leadership exiled. The ARF-Dashnaktsutyun officially re-emerged in Armenia after the collapse of the USSR, in 1990.

In June 2003, the party signed a coalition memorandum with the Republican Party of Armenia and Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law). However, in 2009 ARFD left the coalition in protest against signing the protocols with Turkey. 

Party’s proportional list includes 85 candidates. Eight candidates will run for an MP seat with majority system. The party’s motto is ‘Freedom, Justice, Dashnaktsutyun.’