YEREVAN. – Armenian presidential candidate, opposition National Self-Determination Union Chairman Paruyr Hayrikyan—who is discharged from hospital after being treated for a gunshot wound after a recent assassination attempt—will be unable to take a full part in the remaining days of the campaigning for the forthcoming election. Hayrikyan himself informed this during a pres conference on Tuesday.

He noted that he was “sidelined” at the most crucial phase of the campaign season. 

“We did not have a sharp increase [in support at the time], but we had a steady growth,” Hayrikyan said, and stressed that if a blow was dealt at the crucial phase, this was done because they sensed its [that is, the growing support’s] peril.

In his view, the aforesaid incident dropped his rating, and he added that a runoff in the election is inevitable.  

The presidential candidate noted that his representatives will kick off an active election campaign as of Tuesday.  

And with respect to the criminal case that is launched into the assassination attempt against him, Hayrikyan solely noted that he does not know the persons that are suspected of having fired shots at him.

Incidentally, the presidential contender also met with the European Union ambassadors, during which the matters that were discussed referred, first and foremost, to their apprehensions. The interlocutors also discussed the voters’ lists. In this context, Paruyr Hayrikyan underscored that the lists of those that have voted need to be accessible.    

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am