YEREVAN. – The Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) will never support opposition candidate during the presidential elections, opposition Heritage party secretary Stepan Safaryan said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“It is not yet clear whether PAP will nominate own candidate for the 2013 presidential elections. The party’s further steps will greatly depend on the results of the upcoming local self-government elections scheduled for September,” he said.

“If PAP is satisfied with the results, it will nominate its candidate, otherwise, the issue of competition between PAP and the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) will be not urgent any more,” Safaryan said.

The Heritage member considers that cooperation between PAP and the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) bloc is a serious obstacle to consolidation of the opposition forces.

He also believes that there are three candidates PAP may nominate: former FM Vartan Oskanian, ex-President Robert Kocharyan and PAP leader Gagik Tsarukyan.

Photo by Sona Barseghyan