YEREVAN. – We attempted to take seriously the process by Armenia’s opposition Heritage Party Chairman, former FM Raffi Hovannisian—who was 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 ended a 21-day hunger strike at capital city Yerevan’s Liberty Square on March 31—, but he did not display a corresponding attitude. Ruling Republican Party MP, National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Relations Chairman Artak Zakaryan stated this during a press conference on Friday   

“Sadly, in this case we witnessed neither a proposal nor a reasonable approach,” he said, and added that the Armenian citizenry’s expectations from the country’s political opposition are not fulfilled.       

“If the political forces themselves are unable to manifest themselves as a normal opposition, how can they assume the heavy responsibility of power? Unless a serious opposition force comes, our political system will be one-legged. We have a crippled political system, and the cripple is the opposition,” he said.    

To the query as to whether he truly believes that Hovannisian does not want any governmental positions, Zakaryan responded:

“No, I believe the entire problem is in the positions themselves.”