YEREVAN. – There was news in the press recently that Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) Chairman Gagik Tsarukyan had met with President Serzh Sargsyan, at the Presidential Palace, and expressed his support to Sargsyan in the forthcoming presidential election, Zhamanak daily reports.   

“And in Abovyan city [where Tsarukyan resides] they say he ordered his supporters to secure 90 percent votes for Sargsyan from that area. Furthermore, he was committed to personally cover the pre-election expenses of that area.   

To note, Tsarukyan’s son-in-law, Karen Guloyan, is the mayor of Abovyan. And, in general, Kotayk [Region, where Abovyan is located] is considered a region that is under Tsarukyan’s power.

During this period, when the wave of PAP support to Sargsyan is growing, Tsarukyan, in his turn, needs to demonstrate loyalty [to Sargsyan], at least temporarily, to keep his business and [political] party intact and to atone for his presidential campaign of the [past] fall,” Zhamanak writes.