YEREVAN. – It is meaningless to consider Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) a “political corpse.” It is just resting temporarily and, after getting more active, it could become a worthy opponent for the ruling Republican Party (RPA) in the capital city Yerevan Council election, sociologist Aharon Adibekyan said during a press conference on Thursday.     

Assessing the political forces’ chances in the vote that is slated for May 5, he said, owing to his personal standing, Yerevan’s serving Mayor Taron Margaryan—who will head the RPA proportional list in this election—could once again make the RPA take first place.

Adibekyan added that opposition Heritage Party Chairman, former FM Raffi Hovannisian—who is declared runner-up to the winner, incumbent President Serzh Sargsyan, as a result of the presidential election that was conducted on February 18, but who claims to be the real winner in the vote—could be perceived among the oppositional constituents as a good president, but not necessarily as a good mayor. 

In his words, the opposition Armenian National Congress is changing from a bloc to a political party so as to increase its chances of passing the election threshold.  

As for the opposition ARF Dashnaktsutyun Party, the sociologist noted that, “this party does not like the Yerevan Council elections because it has no hopes of winning.” 

“There are expectations from the [coalition government’s junior member, Orinats Yerkir (Rule of Law) Party] RLP, whose list will be led by the NSC [National Security Council] leader [and RLP Chairman Arthur Baghdasaryan], but he is little known.

“It is assumed that about four parties will be represented in Yerevan’s new Council,” Aharon Adibekyan said, but he ruled out the possibility of Heritage, PAP, and ARF joining forces in this election. 

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am