ARMENIAN MINISTER TO ENLIST RULING PARTY SUPPORT AHEAD OF 2008 PRESIDENTIAL POLL
Iravunk, Yerevan
28 Mar 06
Text of report by Piruza Meliksetyan in the Armenian newspaper Iravunk
on 28 March headlined “Have Serzh Sarkisyan oriented himself?”
A source close to the [ruling] Republican Party of Armenia [RPA] has
said that [Defence Minister] Serzh Sarkisyan and the RPA leadership
have finally agreed to put Sarkisyan’s name on the party list for a
parliamentary election.
The source added that it was suggested to Sarkisyan that he joins the
RPA in the future. Having the support of such a powerful party as the
RPA is one of the first steps leading towards the presidential post,
that is towards the nomination for this post.
The source said that the RPA would strive to form a majority in
parliament during the 2007 parliamentary election and Andranik
Markaryan and Serzh Sarkisyan will take the posts of parliamentary
speaker and prime minister up until the 2008 presidential election.