YEREVAN. – I am not at all bitter by the world and I feel absolutely no hunger, stated Armenia’s opposition Heritage Party leader, 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 and who declared a hunger strike on March 10 at capital city Yerevan’s Liberty Square—, during a press conference at the square on Tuesday, commenting on the thoughts Sargsyan expressed during his talk with a group of journalists on Monday.      

“I am empowered with overwhelming confidence of the Armenian people. I regret that it seems to Mr. Sargsyan that I have caused sorrow. Entering into arithmetical falsities as to how many people [actually] there are at the square, I, too, have vision problems, but I believe one should not go so low. I have said that our criterion is the quantity and the quality alike. 

“26 Baghramyan [Avenue, where the Presidential Residence is located] has besieged the triumph of the Armenian people. We are everywhere, the triumph is everywhere; this is no longer the matter of Raffi. It is here that Mr. Sargsyan ought to go beyond the old standards.    

“He [that is, Sargsyan] ascribes immodest things to me. Immodesty was celebrating his own victory by way of stealing the people’s vote, lying, [and] fraud. In any democratic country, in [European People’s Party President Wilfried] Martens’ country, this fact would have meant that the election was unlawful,” Hovannisian said.     

Heritage’s chairman also called upon Serzh Sargsyan not to speak about the law and the people.

“Mr. Sargsyan, don’t misrepresent my words! I am grateful that we are in an open society. Both he and I are accountable for our words. Everything will take place right before the eyes of the Armenian people, so that no one would misrepresent the other’s words,” Raffi Hovannisian concluded.     

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am