In case of public demand, authorities will have to hold special elections, Stepan Demirchyan, the Chairman of the People’s Party of Armenia and Armenian National Congress (ANC) member, told journalists on Wednesday. According to him, elections are always rigged and power is seized, but it is the Opposition alone that is blamed for failures. S. Demirchyan believes that it is the entire country, rather than an individual political force or person, that is proving failure. “Elections are rigged each time, and people want the authorities-Opposition relations to be normal after each rigged election,” Demirchyan said. In this context, he underlined necessity of holding elections in conformity with law.

Demirchyan also stressed that free and fair special elections are an imperative now, which will be an opportunity to defuse the growing domestic and foreign political crisis.

Stepan Demirchyan also said the Opposition was for a constitutional change of power in Armenia both in 2003 and in 2008. It remains committed to this principle now as well. “We do not want the Kyrgyz scenario to recur in Armenia, but we want democratic traditions of changing power to be established in the country,” he concluded.