Associated Press Worldstream
October 26, 2007 Friday 7:42 PM GMT
Former Armenian president Ter-Petrosian seeking comeback
Longtime Armenian leader Levon Ter-Petrosian said Friday that he will
run for president in elections early next year, seeking to return to
office a decade after he was forced out.
Ter-Petrosian, who was president of the former Soviet republic from
1991-1998, announced his candidacy at an opposition rally that drew
more than 10,000 people to a square in central Yerevan.
He denounced the current leadership, under President Robert
Kocharian, as a corruption-ridden "kleptocratic regime."
Ter-Petrosian was elected president in October 1991, in the final
months before Armenia gained independence in the Soviet collapse. He
was re-elected in a flawed 1996 vote opponents accused him of
rigging, and was forced to resign in a power struggle in February
1998.
The presidential vote is to be held in February or March, but the
specific date has not been set.
Kocharian is barred from seeking a third straight term, while Prime
Minister Serge Sarkisian would be favored to win if he runs, which is
widely expected.
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