YEREVAN. – Solely the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) has clearly and publicly said it will nominate its candidate—namely, incumbent President and RPA Chairman Serzh Sargsyan—in next year’s presidential elections, RPA MP Hamlet Harutyunyan stated during a press conference on Tuesday, and he added that RPA is the strongest political force in the country, it is self-reliant, and it will definitely win the elections.    

Speaking about Sargsyan’s likely challengers, Harutyunyan said: “With its publications, the press is telling [second President Robert] Kocharyan to run [in the elections]. I don’t know where [opposition bloc Armenian National Congress leader and First President] Levon Ter-Petrosyan is. [And] What presidential candidate out of [former FM and Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) MP Vartan] Oskanian in this condition? He solely has time to engage in his own affairs [that is to say, the formal charges that are brought against him on money laundering]. And [PAP Chairman Gagik] Tsarukyan’s next class has not yet started; he always says ‘in the next class’ [with respect to the queries on whether or not he will run for president],” the RPA MP stated, and he expressed a view that the opposition will hardly have a single candidate in the presidential election.     

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