Paruyr Hayrikyan: Our people sustained a crucial defeat (video)
Some opposition forces got got fewer votes [than their contenders] in the April 2 parliamentary elections because of their flippant attitude, says the leader of the Union for National Self-Determination (AIM). “I can understand the enthusiasm of the young members of the Yelk alliance, but the bloc’s isolated fight led to what we have today. We do not see any political issues before us to be delighted by the victory of the Yelk or the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). There was an idea floating in the air – to unseat these authorities. If the political forces vying to take seats in the next parliament failed to do it in the parliamentary elections, it means we have lost. Let us not deceive ourselves,” said Paruyr Hayrikyan. The AIM leader says it was meaningless to run in the race if the opposition could not form a majority in the National Assembly. “Had you acted united, the Armenian National Congress (HAK) and the ORO alliance would have taken seats. Our people sustained a crucial defeat. This obliges us to put our heads together and not to wait for another five years.” Azat Arshakyan, a supporter of the ORO alliance, says some forces were unable to pass the threshold as they had chosen the wrong strategy.
