Aram Karapetyan to not participate in elections
Leader of the "New Times" Party Aram Karapetyan says his party won't be participating in the upcoming parliamentary elections because he believes that the elections won't be able to change anything in Armenia.
"This is a political decision. We have no problems with funding or any other problem," Karapetyan said during a press conference today.
"I think this is sincere because many parties that have much less potential than our party want to remind people of their existence. It is not mandatory to go to the elections and be defeated, knowing that they are going to be defeated," Karapetyan's opponent, Republican Deputy Manvel Badeyan said.
However, Aram Karapetyan didn't accept his opponent's viewpoint and mentioned that he wasn't following up on the political developments taking place in the country because he wasn't interested in them. Republican Manvel Badeyan said he was interested in those developments and even noticed some tension ahead of the elections.
On behalf of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), Badeyan pledged once again that the May 6 elections would be fair and transparent without any electoral fraud. "Our party will rule that out."
Even though "New Times" won't be participating in the elections, that won't stand in the party's way of expressing its views on how many mandates each party will get.
As for the HHK's new slogan "Let's Believe to Change", Aram Karapetyan says that will instill faith in people, if it is heard from the oppositionists.
Republican Manvel Badeyan said the slogan instilled faith in him to the extent that he expressed the willingness to change.
"I have to be more unwavering in turning Serzh Sargsyan's ideas into a reality," Manvel Badeyan said.
Badeyan also didn't deny that there were some Republicans who are taking advantage of their posts for their own interests and assured that he was not one of them.
