Opposition candidates should unite against regime
Serzh Sargsyan has launched his presidential campaign with numerous unresolved problems, with the ruling regime still suffering from a legitimacy deficit, political analyst Edgar Vardanyan told journalists on January 23.
"The regime was undemocratic before the tenure of [incumbent President] Serzh Sargsyan, the presidential candidate of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK), and remains undemocratic during Sargsyan's term in office," he said.
The expert of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies (ACNIS) notes that Serzh Sargsyan has adopted a more lenient policy, given the uncertain situation in the opposition field and the promise of the West to support the regime provided that the upcoming presidential election qualitatively exceeded the previous ones. At the same time, he reminded that the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has already given a harsh assessment of the non-democratic conduct of the regime.
The political analyst says a new political situation may emerge in the country irrespective of the election outcome.
"When people are in a dead-end situation, they begin to contemplate over changes and eventually make these changes in the result of unrelenting struggle," said Mr Vardanyan. "If the opposition candidates want to succeed, they need to promote the formation of a new opposition movement. They should unite and win the election held in non-democratic conditions," he added.
