YEREVAN. – “As our sources close to the [opposition] ARF [Dashnaktsutyun Party] inform, Dashnaktsutyun will never support [opposition Heritage Party leader] Raffi Hovannisian’s candidacy [in the forthcoming presidential elections in Armenia],” Hraparak daily writes, and continues: 

“According to the same sources, the ARF, in all likelihood, will nominate its own candidate—during its General Assembly to be convened on December 25—who will be [ARF MP] Armen Rustamyan. This is conditioned not solely on the wish of the [party] ranks but, also, on the recent [President] Serzh Sargsyan-ARF meeting, in which Armen Rustamyan likewise partook. Also, arrangement was made that ARF will have to act as radical opposition and be very aggressive.     

‘If the General Assembly makes such decision, Serzh Sargsyan will have a very impressive threesome of challengers—Raffi Hovannisian, [opposition MP and former PM] Hrant Bagratyan, Armen Rustamyan—, in the presidential elections, that will vie for the ‘honorable’ second place,’ our ARF interlocutor said.”