NA Speaker expects to get high-level post
"If we manage to win the parliamentary elections, it's clear that Hovik Abrahamyan will not get a more low-level post, isn't it," Armenian Parliament Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan said on Wednesday in an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Citing a "proposal" from Serzh Sargsyan, the parliament speaker announced today his decision to resign, saying he was going to run the pre-election headquarters of the Republican Party (HHK) during the forthcoming elections.
He finds the new position to be more important.
"Since the president, the party and myself attach a great deal of importance to the pre-election campaign, I don't want to combine these two jobs and cast a shadow on the post of National Assembly chairman," added the speaker.
Abrahamyan also insisted that his resignation has "nothing to do" with Kocharyan. "Serzh Sargsyan has the closest rapport with Kocharian ... I have never meddled and don't want to meddle in their relations," he said. ""I am with the current team and will stick with it to the end. I was on good terms with Kocharyan during his tenure in office. Our relations are the same today. I am not used to changing my team," he said praising Sargsyan's proposal to head the pre-election campaign.
"With this step I also want to demonstrate to fellow party members and some politicians that I'm not clinging to my post," he said.
"If you remember I headed the pre-election headquarters during the 2007 parliamentary elections, then in 2008 I headed the president's headquarters. Later I worked in the President's Apparatus as the head of the personnel. These are simple political processes and one should always be prepared for them. Since the president, the party and myself attach a great deal of importance to the pre-election campaign, I don't want to combine these two jobs and cast a shadow on the post of National Assembly chairman," he said.
Hovik Abrahamyan will submit his resignation during the NA sitting on November 14.
